Alabastan Nights
by Vergina-spva
Summary: Ace is a lonely thieving streetboy, until he obtains a mysterious lamp and meets some interesting people. Some of them might even be more than interesting. (Eventual) Marco x Ace, Pre-Islamic Arabian-like AU. Rated T because of language, some violence and sexual hints.
1. Yup, that's me

_Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a new stories from the depths of my imagination (really, not that deep)..._

**_Alabastan Nights_**

_This is a multi chapter story about a lonely boy that lives on the streets of an Arabian-like country, Alabasta. Along the way he will meet interesting people and one certain man could even be more than interesting... but let's save that for later.  
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_(you probably won't be surprised to hear this story was based off Aladdin... I was listening to 'A whole new world' when I came up with this_

_Thanks to Aerle and Thérèse for beta'ing and thanks to MyLadyDay and SophieStaar for creating cover images (I'll rotate them)! _

Disclamer: I don't own One Piece_)_

_Now, let's first meet our main character and get introduced to his world. *insert Arabian music here*_

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: 'Yup, that's me'<strong>

I stretched my arms above my head and looked out over the city. It had awoken some time ago and I could see the market slowly getting crowded. It was like every other day. The sun was burning down heavily on the people, but it didn't stop them from going out into the streets. Of course, everyone needed food and it wasn't healthy to stay inside every day either.

I stood up and walked towards the darkest and coldest corner of the room. The crowded city was in stark contrast to my apartment – if you could call the place I was living in an apartment. It was just an empty room inside an empty building. The government had declared it unsafe. They said it could collapse at any time, but I couldn't care less. It meant I had a place I could live, out of sight from everyone else and if it would collapse, I would just find another place. It wasn't as if I hadn't done that before.

I'd reached the corner and sighed. Just one apple, that was all I had left. I took a bite of it. _At least it's still edible._

With the apple still in my mouth, I put on my thin, black coat. Because even _I_ needed protection against the burning sun. I hung my green and black striped bag over my shoulder, cast a last look on the few blankets I claimed as my personal possessions and jumped out of the window, ignoring the fact that it was the fourth floor.

When I almost reached the ground, I let small flames burst out of the soles of my feet, warming up the air underneath them and giving me a soft landing. I walked into the alley as if I hadn't just fallen out of the sky. I was used to doing things like that without being noticed. I had to. They couldn't know I lived up there. In that light it was good that the tower I lived in stood in a back alley and was surrounded by mostly uninhabited buildings.

I reached the end of the alley quickly and meddled into the crowd at the marketplace. first I walked around to watch all the stalls. Some were selling carpets or fancy pillows, some the newest Alabastan fashion, but most of them were selling food. Which was good, because food was what I needed.

I carefully looked around, without anyone seeing me. The regulars knew me. If I wanted to get something from them, I had to make sure they didn't notice me until it was too late.

That moment my attention was drawn to a big group of people crowded around a stall I hadn't seen before. Curiosity got the better hand of me and I sneaked through the mass of people to get a peek of what the marketer was selling.

"And this genie will grant you three wishes," the salesman said with a mysterious tone to his voice. I saw three shiny, though a little dusty oil lamps standing on the table before him. "But be careful what you wish for, since you have only three of them. After that, the genie will be free and gone."

I couldn't care less about genies. Sure, three wishes would be nice, but everyone knew genies weren't real, that they belonged in fairytales. Despite this fact, I still saw some of the customers look very interested at the bronze objects. Well, I was interested too; those looked very valuable. And if this man could sell them, I could do it too, right? I had let my eyes fall on the middle one, that was decorated with little turquoise stones.

"Things like this could end up very bad, when they get into the hands of the wrong person," the vendor continued his story, probably to make the 'good' customers more interested. I couldn't help but snort. Those rich bastards wouldn't know what good to do with three wishes. "Have you ever heard the story of the genie of Gol D. Roger, King of Thieves?"

I froze at the hearing of _that_ name. The name of the man I hated.

"This man, the devil himself, had a genie too, named Silvers Rayleigh." I snorted again. Rayleigh had been his right hand, not a genie! Everyone knew that! Still, I couldn't help to keep listening. "Roger had two terrible wishes, giving him the biggest treasure in the world, while killing and hurting a lot of innocent people. However, no one really knows what his _last_ wish was, but it must have been at least as terrible as the others. However, his genie was freed, that's for sure," the salesman said in a dark voice.

I made my way back through the crowd. I didn't need to listen any longer to those stupid stories. If that man had had a genie, he sure as hell could have done better things with it. I could think of a lot of wishes that would have made _my_ live less of a hell, for a start.

I returned to walking around over the marketplace, pushing thoughts of _that man_ aside. I had to think about the best way to get what I needed. I wanted the lamp and some food; bread, fruit and preferably some meat. Well, it would be best to start with the lamp, since the marketer was new and thus not aware of the threat that was me. I grinned. It had been a while ago since I had set something on fire, so it would probably take the people some time to realize it was my doing. Yes, I knew what I had to do.

I made my way back to the genie-man. When I stood next to the stall, I heard the salesman negotiate with a tall man about the middle lamp. But _no way_, that lamp was mine! I opened my bag, so it would be ready to throw my loot in.

Before anyone had noticed me, I shot a flame out of my hand, immediately setting the whole table on fire. When everyone started to panic, I let my body become one with the flames and quickly snatched the lamp away, before it could get damaged. I lit the stall next to it too, to make it more believable and then sneaked back into the crowd. I ran towards my next victim, which didn't stand out, because a lot of people were running from the fire.

I got at the baker's stand, grabbed two large breads – which the baker didn't even see, because he was cautiously watching the fire – and put them together with the lamp into my bag. I continued my way to the fruits seller. I picked up some bananas and – hey, a pineapple! Pineapples have always been my favorite!

"Oi!"

I looked up at the fruit seller's face and saw immediate recognition in his eyes. I grinned at him and began to run again.

"Catch him!" the marketer yelled after me. "Catch him, it's Fire Fist!"

I laughed. None of the locals would be so stupid as to catch _me_, someone with devil fruit powers and one of the few of whom the powers _weren't_ suppressed by the government. So unless there were any officials close by, I didn't need to worry.

I ended up at the butcher. "Hello," I greeted him.

The man gave me an unimpressed look. "Portgas," he said displeased, after which he started looking around, probably to see if there were any city guards within earshot.

"Yup, that's me," I said. "I would like that piece of meat," I pointed at the largest piece he was selling, "and a chicken."

"Fuck off, Portgas. You're not getting anything. I'll give you one chance to leave on your own. If you don't, I'll call the guards," he warned me. That wasn't very nice of him.

My face hardened. "I give _you_ one chance to give me the meat, or I will burn this thing down."

We looked each other in the eyes for a few seconds, neither of us giving in. Then the butcher opened his mouth. "Guards! Guards! He's here!"

I cast a look over my shoulder and saw three guards heading our way. "Shit," I hissed. I quickly grabbed the chicken and set the rest on fire. Letting the flames guide me up into the sky, I landed on the rooftop of a nearby building.

I had almost immediately lost the guards. They couldn't jump or fly this high, except for a few higher ranked ones. That meant the guards had to use the stairs to get up here and by that time I would be long gone. In that prospective I was _glad_ only higher government officials were allowed to use devil fruit powers. They didn't trust the lower ones with it. I had to be careful with my own powers, though. If I used them as much and in the way I did the past few minutes all the time, I would have one of those higher ranked guys after me very soon.

Well, who was I fooling. They would come after me sooner or later anyway. Even if they would never find out about my lineage. I was a devil fruit user, so the longer I kept my powers, the more I became a threat to them. Or so they thought.

I walked over the rooftops for a while and when I thought the coast was clear, I got back to the ground again.

It wasn't like I was planning on overthrowing the government or anything. I just didn't let myself be oppressed by them. My freedom was the most important thing to me. So a threat? I didn't think so. Though I did like to provoke them a bit, every once in a while.

I had reached the tower in which I lived. I looked around to see if there was anyone around and when this was not the case, I entered the building, this time just taking the stairs. One moment I almost lost my balance when the stone crumbled beneath my feet, but I managed to keep myself from falling and walked all the way up to the fourth floor.

I dropped my bag on the floor, sat down and started to unpack it. The food should be kept as cool as possible, so I put the pineapple into the dark, but drafty corner, together with the bananas and the bread. I looked at the chicken. I shouldn't wait too long to eat it, because it would soon not be _safe_ to eat anymore. Actually, with these temperatures, I should roast it within an hour. However, when looking around, I could find only one little twig of wood. I should get some more wood or oil first. Wood was better to cook on, but scarcer too. Of course I could just roast the chicken above my hand or my feet or my _dick_, for that matter – I got to try the last, one time – but that would cost a lot of energy, so I'd rather use wood. It took some time, after all, before a whole chicken was done well.

I burned a place on the floor free of dust and other unwanted things and placed the chicken down on the clean spot. Then I got up and went out again, taking my bag with me.

I walked around the city for a while, but didn't find anything I could use. Besides, the guards were probably still looking for me, so I couldn't create a havoc by stealing something again. So that left me only one option.

I stepped into the desert, which began directly outside the city gates. About seven miles away, there was a big oasis. There I would be able to find enough wood.

It would take me hours to go there and get back if I just walked, so I used my powers to speed up a little. A few minutes later I reached the forest. I walked through it, enjoying the coolness of the shadows the trees cast. After a little while I reached the big lake in the center of the oasis, laying at a little lower level than I was currently standing. The view was beautiful; different kinds of birds were flying around the lake or bathing in it, the water shining in the sunlight. A group of nomads let their cattle drink out of the lake.

Once again I asked myself if I couldn't live here. There was shadow and water at hand at all times, after all. But I knew I couldn't. I needed stuff from the city sometimes too, but the most important reason: I would be bored to death. So I just enjoyed the few times I went here.

I smiled and went down to the lake. I had been so stupid to forget to bring my canteen, so I had to sneak into the nomad camp. It would be a waste after all, if I didn't refill my water supply while I was here.

Most of the nomads were at the lake side with the cattle or just chatting while refilling their own water. So it didn't took much for me to sneak in and steal one of their waterskins. I quickly filled it and then went back to the forest to collect some firewood.

A little less than half an hour later I was back at my living place – I would say 'home', but that would give the place too much credit.

I took the spear I had made out of wood and shove the chicken onto it, started the fire and sat down next to it, holding the chicken just above the flames.

I sighed bored. Sometimes I wondered what life was all about. Just surviving? Was I even meant to be alive? I mean, other people obviously thought I shouldn't be and I didn't have any friends either, nor family. But still, I was here, right? Sure there must be _some_ reason for that? I didn't really feel like just giving up my life or letting myself get caught by the government, either.

Maybe I should just try a little harder to get friends? _Ha_, who was I kidding? Nobody would want to be friends with me if they knew who my poor excuse of a father had been.

Well, for now I just lived for my freedom. That was really the most important thing to me at the moment. I would see what else would come to me.

After having waited a very long time, I decided the chicken was done and _damn_, I really enjoyed that meat when my teeth sank into it and it touched my tongue. Even though it was just chicken meat without any herbs or spices, it still tasted delicious.

It didn't take me too long to finish the whole chicken. I was licking my fingers clean, when I suddenly remembered something else that was still inside my bag. When I was certain there were no traces of chicken flavor left on my fingers, I leaned over so I could stick my hand inside the bag. I took out the bronze oil lamp and put it before me on the floor.

I should polish it a bit, wipe the dust off of it. Then at the same time I could check if there was a genie inside it after all. I laughed. Not that it would be.

I got up and fetched one of my blankets, since I didn't own anything that was made to clean with. I sat down by the lamp again and picked it up, first inspecting it a little. It was really beautiful. Especially when it would shine some more.

I carefully wiped a streak clean of dust. Then waited. Nothing happened. I wiped clean a few more streaks. Still nothing happened. Why was I even expecting something to happen, anyway? Ah, this was bullshit. There was no fucking genie coming out of it!

I began to rub it more fiercely. I had to make it shine as much as possible.

But then, suddenly, something _was_ coming out of the oil lamp. It looked a bit like smoke or fog, but it wasn't quite that. It quickly formed some sort of cloud that kept growing and growing. Slowly it took on the form of a human person.

_No way!_ There really _was_ a genie inside the lamp?! I was sure my jaw hit the ground by the time the genie had totally come out. It had the form of a man, wearing light blue clothes. He had a scar running in a half circle around his left eye, a goatee and a reddish brown pompadour hairstyle.

The genie coughed dramatically. "Finally, you let me out! Damn, it was dusty inside there!" He looked at me and cocked his head in confusion, when he saw my surprised face. "What? Didn't expect me?"

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><p><em>TBC~<em>

_I hope you liked the first introduction! Please leave a review if you liked or disliked it (though please only constructive criticism if you didn't like it)._

_I will have to warn you all... Marco will not appear before the third chapter. Some other interesting people will, though ;)_

_So, I hope you liked it and will return for the next chapter._


	2. You're the princess

_It took a little while, but here's the second chapter! :D I hope you'll all enjoy!  
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_I'm just gonna upload every chapter as soon as it is done and beta'd and not use a set time I should update, because my study work will suffer from it if I do. I will assure you, however, I will never ever abandon anything I've started. I hate unfinished fics, so I will not let that happen. If I haven't updated a story at least once within three months, you can safely assume something terrible happened to me :P_

_That said, Thanks to my beta's Aerle and Thérèse! Also, the cover image for this chapter (as it'll be for all even chapters) was made by SophieStaar! :D_

_Please all enjoy this chapter!_

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 2:<strong>_

_**You're the princess**_

"Hello?" The genie waved a hand in front of my face, but I was still too flabbergasted to respond. The man in front of me looked around as if he searched for something, but didn't find it. When his gaze turned back to me, he looked worried. "Oi, kid, you're the one who freed me from this lamp, right?"

I snapped out of my trance. "I'm not a kid! I'm twenty."

The man smiled. "Ah, so you haven't lost your tongue."

I snorted in response. "So, eh, you're a genie?" I asked nonchalantly.

The man spread his arms to give me a good look of him. "Do I look like a genie to you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've never seen one before."

The brunet sighed. "Yes, I am a genie. And now you are my master. You can call me Thatch."

"Thatch?" I parroted, still not really sure what to think of this whole situation.

"Yes, that is my name. You've got one too? Or should I call you 'master'?"

A smirk formed itself on my lips. "I like that." But when I saw his disappointed face, I couldn't help but laugh. "The name's Ace."

Thatch grinned. "Well, Ace, I'll explain to you how this works."

"Oh, don't bother," I told him before he could really start. "I know the rules. I get three wishes, you're gonna let them come true and after that, you're free of any attachments, right?"

The brown haired man scratched the back of his head. "Well, yeah, though we usually don't really put much focus on the last part. People don't like to lose their chance to wish for something important, so they often don't wish more than two things, if they know that," the genie explained.

I laughed again. "Don't expect me to be any different, 'cause they're right."

Thatch grinned. "Yeah, that's what I thought. But I quite like you, so it might not be so bad." He sat down in the windowsill. "So let me know if you've thought of a wish."

I snorted. "How can you say you like me? You don't know me," I said, shaking my head.

Thatch smiled at me. "Just a feeling."

I stared at him. He would change his mind about that soon enough, I was sure. Only now, in this light, I saw that the man was still slightly see-through, the only clue that he was a genie and not human.

I sighed. It wasn't hard to think of a wish. In fact, I already knew what I wished for, but I didn't know if that was even possible. Besides, could I trust this genie? If I told him my wish and he opened his mouth to others about it… "Do you work for the government?" I plainly asked.

Thatch raised his eyebrows. "Are you kidding me? I despise the government. I wouldn't grant them a wish even if they would have been the one to free me from the lamp."

I chuckled. "Can you do that? Denying wishes, that is."

"Not really, but I could try," he said grinning.

Laughing, I sat down next to him. "So if I told you some sort of super-secret, you wouldn't tell anyone?"

"I'm very good at keeping secrets," he answered.

My lips curled into a smile. Somehow I knew I could trust him. "You'd better be, 'cause if you'd tell, I would have to kill you."

My genie laughed out loud. "I'd love to see you try." He laid his hand down on my shoulder. It felt like a real hand, but when I looked at it, I could still see my shoulder through it. "You can't kill me; I'm a genie. But I like your attitude."

"Huh, there must be _a way_ to get rid of you," I mumbled, but then continued to speak aloud again. "So, why don't you like the government?" I asked just to be sure.

Thatch seemed to think about this for a little before answering. "I've heard and seen enough of their actions to hate them. Besides, they want to get a hold on every genie that's out there," he explained. "So it was pretty brave of that market man to sell us so openly. And I'm very glad you stole my lamp."

"How'd you know I didn't buy you?" I asked a little suspicious.

"I can hear everything that happens around my lamp, so it was pretty obvious." The brunet crossed his arms. "So, are you gonna tell me that secret or not?"

I looked at the clear blue sky. "I wish to have a conversation with my father."

Thatch remained silent for a few seconds. Then he unfolded his arms and suddenly had a bottle in his hands – containing alcohol, by the smell of it. Where the bottle had come from all of a sudden was a mystery to me. "Who's your father?" he asked after which he took a gulp of the liquor.

I looked at him for a moment, still not sure if I should tell him. Also, still wondering where the hell the bottle had come from. I shook my head, but told him anyway. "Gol D. Roger."

Half of the drink came back out while Thatch choked on the other half in shock. It took him some time to get his voice back. "You're Roger's son?!"

I rolled my eyes. For sure he would change his mind about liking me now. "Unfortunately, yes."

He gave me a scrutinizing look. "I guess you do have some similarities."

_What?! _That damn genie could better be lying! I had always hoped I didn't look a thing like him.

Thatch suddenly looked a bit intimidated. "Not that many, though. You probably resemble your mother way more."

I calmed down a little. "So are you gonna grant me my wish or not?"

Thatch sighed. "I can't."

"Of course you can't," I said with a healthy dose of sarcasm to my voice. "It's my own fault, I shouldn't have been Roger's son."

"It's not because of who he was, let alone who you are!" the brown haired man protested. "It is because he _was_. Is not anymore. I can't resurrect the dead. I can't bring back anyone who has passed. Even if you were the king, I couldn't get your father here. " Thatch sighed. "People often want genies to bring back their loved ones, but that's just not within our power. We can't kill people and can't get people back from the death. We also cannot turn someone's heart to love or hate. And that means no world peace either." He looked me in the eyes. "Can't you just wish to be rich or something?"

"Why would I want that?"

He looked around the room. "Well, you look like you could use some more money."

"And then?" I asked a little annoyed. "What do I do when I'm rich?"

Thatch laughed. "I've never been asked that question before!" He shook his head. "What do you think about buying everything you want, going everywhere you want, never ever have to worry about anything anymore… Oh, and I forget the most important: You can get any girl you want." He winked at me.

I couldn't help but chuckle. If one thing, at least this genie knew how to cheer me up. "Dear Thatch, have you ever looked at me? I already _can_ get every girl I want."

The brunet screened me over and then shrugged. "I guess so."

I thought about it for a while. A careless life did sound sort of nice…. Though, boring as well. Maybe I could wish for _some_ carelessness?

"Want some?" Thatch held out the bottle of liquor he had been drinking from.

I took it from him and sniffed cautiously at it. "Where did you get that?"

The man looked at me as if I had just asked the most stupid question ever. "I'm a genie. I can get a bottle of whiskey from wherever I want."

Satisfied with that explanation I took a gulp of the beverage. I enjoyed the burning sensation it gave down my throat. It had been a while.

Suddenly it hit me. I took another sip of the whiskey and then handed the bottle back. "I have an idea. If I would wish I'd be protected from the government inside this building forever, would that mean it couldn't collapse either?"

The genie seemed to think about my question. "I guess so. If it would collapse, you couldn't be inside it anymore, so you couldn't be safe inside it either."

"Alright, then that's my first wish," I said confidently. At least I'd have a place I would always be safe. Maybe I could start calling it a home then, after all.

Thatch grinned. "Your wish is my command!" He snapped his fingers.

I didn't see anything happen and after a few seconds I looked at him. "Did it work?"

The brunet frowned. "Of course. Don't question my powers."

* * *

><p>"It's so good to finally be out again," Thatch said.<p>

Somehow he had managed to convince me in taking him with me the next morning. I was planning to go out on my own, but apparently I was wrong. I had taken the lamp with me too though, since Thatch couldn't move outside a range of two hundred yards of it, but mainly so that he could go back any time if someone came too close. Currently we were just walking through an deserted alley, however, so no problem there.

"You've always been in this city?" I asked him.

"No, no, it's been a very long time since I've been in Alubarna," he answered. "But it seems like nothing has changed much."

I looked curiously at him. "How old are you?"

The genie shrugged. "Dunno, it's hard to keep track when you're locked inside a lamp half of the time. Pretty old, I guess." He smirked. "But you wouldn't tell, right? I still look like I'm eighteen."

The laugh left my lips before I could suppress it. "Yeah, sure, Thatch."

We reached one of the main street. "You gotta go back now," I told him.

"Nooo, people won't notice!" the brown haired man tried, giving me a face as if I had just suggested the weirdest thing ever.

"Thatch, you're see-through." I got the lamp out of my bag. He sighed, but did what I said after all. Within a few seconds he had disappeared.

I walked into the street in search for something worth stealing, something that could get me through at least the next few days. When I looked around, I almost immediately spotted two men dealing something. The tallest of the two gave the other some money and got a mysterious little bag in return. For a moment I was torn between going after the mystery-bag or the purse of the shorter man. However, I had no idea what was inside that little bag, so I decided to go for the money.

I walked up to the man as if I wanted to ask him something. He looked curiously at me, but before he knew it, I had already pulled the purse off his belt and ran.

I soon noticed how he began to run after me and that he was pretty fast too. But I was faster.

Quickly I shot into an alley and to my delight I saw a wooden crate standing at the beginning of it. I pulled it to the center of the path and set it on fire. That should slow my pursuer down for at least a bit. And that bit would be enough for me.

I ran further, but suddenly someone came out of a side alley and stopped in front of me. She stood there firmly with her arms spread, blocking my way.

"Miss, you'd better step aside." I didn't want to push her aside if it wasn't strictly necessary.

"No, I will not let you pass!" she yelled back. It surprised me and made me stop in my track. "You're going to return that money to that poor man first." So apparently she had seen me stealing.

I snorted. "Poor man? Don't make me laugh." Slowly I walked towards the girl. I couldn't see her face very well, since a large hood covered her head. I cast a nervous glance over my shoulder. My pursuer wasn't in sight yet, but I could hear some tumult behind my little fire. "Miss, do you have any idea who I am?"

"You're Portgas D. Ace, also known as Fire Fist Ace," she said, still standing with her arms spread.

"And you're not afraid of me?" I asked with an amused smile.

"No," she answered, but as I took another step forward, I could see she was trembling slightly. Though this could, of course, also be because of anger. "You're a thief and you're going to return that purse to its rightful owner."

"Sorry ma'am, no can do," I replied chuckling. Why did she think she could stop me?

Suddenly I heard a hiss behind me. I immediately recognized it as the sound of water ending the fire. "I'm sorry," I said before taking the girl into my arms and jumping up to the roof of one of the surrounding buildings. After crossing a few rooftops, I came to a stop and put the girl down again, with her butt on the hard surface of that roof.

She looked shocked at me, but I was no less surprised than she. Because of the jump, her hood had fallen back, revealing her face and her long, light blue locks.

I took a step back. "Y-you're the princess!" When she didn't say anything, I continued. "What are you doing out in the streets, playing city guard?"

The look in her eyes hardened. "That's none of your business. More important is: why are you stealing?"

Again she surprised me. She was actually interested? Probably not. It sounded more like a rhetoric question anyway. Or she was just scared and said that, hoping I wouldn't kill her. Not that I was planning on that. I had the princess, I could get a lot of money for her return. Still, I sat down next to her. "I don't have a choice." She looked at me, her eyes asking to explain myself. I shook my head. "You wouldn't understand. You sleep on a golden bed with soft pillows and silken sheets. You only have to wave your hand and you get what you want."

"That's not true!" she said, after which she soon fell silent again, a slight blush of embarrassment covering her cheeks. "My bed isn't made of gold…"

I snorted. Spoiled brat.

"But I wouldn't mind sleeping in the same bed as you! Ah, no, I mean…" The blush became deeper. "In the same _kind_ of bed."

I was unimpressed by her Freudian slip. "That is you assuming that I have a bed." I stood up, offering her a hand so she could do the same.

She looked at me in shock, then looked at my hand and cast a look at the sky. I followed her gaze, but there was nothing more than a single falcon swirling beneath the sun. Her look was back on me and her face showed confusion. She remained seated however. "You– you don't have a bed?"

I raised my eyebrows. "What, you think I steal for fun?" Well, a little, I answered my own question in the privacy of my mind. "I steal to survive. I sleep between two thin sheets on a stone floor!"

She covered her mouth with her hand. "Are you serious?" She surprised me with her genuinely worried face. I hadn't expect her to care. "But why don't you just get a job? Like everyone else?"

I shook my head. She didn't understand, but I believed she would, if I just explained it to her. "People wouldn't want to hire me. I've got a reputation. Besides, if they did, they would want to ring me." I had seen those poor bastards with their seastone ring around their neck, totally ripped from their freedom.

"But… then you wouldn't _need_ your powers, right?" the blue haired girl asked cautiously.

"It's wrong to take someone's freedom away, princess." I reached out my hand again. "Come on, you're coming with me."

She looked a little insecure when she looked up at me. "What about your parents?" she asked, slowly getting up by herself, ignoring my offered help completely.

I took my neglected hand back and huffed. "They're dead. Have been, ever since I was born."

"_Princess Vivi!"_ Suddenly there was a gigantic shadow looming over us and the next moment an enormous falcon landed on the rooftop, quickly turning into a man. "Are you alright?" he asked the girl as he rapidly moved her away from me. He pulled his sword and pointed the tip dangerously at me.

"No, Pell! I'm fine!" The princess laid an assuring hand down on her savior's arm. "Let him go."

I scanned the situation. This guy had devil fruit powers, so he was probably a high ranked guard. But this man was a zoan-type and also didn't seem to have anything that could really harm me, so I didn't worry too much.

"But Your Highness,…" the bird-guy protested.

"Let him go for now," the royal heir said with a stern voice. "He didn't harm me. And I want to go home."

The man gave me a warning look, but then put his sword away. He turned into his falcon form again, let the princess climb his back and stretched his wings. Within a few seconds they were out of sight.

Well, it was unfortunate my planned hostage had gotten away, but at least I still had the money. I looked over the edge of the rooftop to check whether the ground was clear and jumped down when I didn't see anybody.

I waited a few seconds for my eyes to get accustomed to the darkness of yet another shadowed alley. I loved it that Alubarna had so many dark alleyways, which made it easy to navigate through the city without being noticed.

Suddenly I heard an appraising whistle behind me. When I turned around I saw a black haired woman coming out of the shadows, walking towards me. She looked me over – definitely liking what she saw, if her face was anything to go by – so I decided upon doing the same. She was not extraordinary pretty. Even though she wore quite a lot of make-up, she couldn't hide her rather masculine features. She also wore Eastern looking clothes, making her stand out more.

She licked her lips seductively. "Well, look at you."

I almost choked because of the surprise. That voice was definitely one that belonged to a man. But she still looked like a woman.

"What does a handsome guy like you do, sneaking around in a dark alley?"

I looked dumbfounded at him/her. She was flirting with me, so she was probably a woman… though not necessarily. There was only one way to find out… okay, maybe two. "Are you a man or a woman?" I asked cautiously.

The other was standing right before me now and quickly got a folded fan from out of her kimono – was that what it was called? – that collided with my head within a second. It hurt more than I had expected.

"How dare you ask such a question?!" he/she said offended.

I rubbed the painful spot on my head. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to know… but now I see clearly that you are a woman." Though a very flat-chested one, I thought after further inspection.

I received another hit with the fan. "You should think less gender-specific! I'm both man and woman, but my body is male."

"Ouw! I'm sorry!" I apologized, though I was annoyed he had to hit me all the time. "So what do you want from me?" I asked, wanting to go home before my earlier pursuers came after me again.

The transvestite smiled. "Oh, I would like a whole lot of things from you, Ace," he said with a wink. I kept looking impatiently, not impressed that he knew my name. I was infamous after all. But seriously, did he think he could seduce me or anything?

When I didn't respond, he sighed. "What is your relationship with the princess?"

I frowned. "What are you talking about?"

The man rolled his eyes. "I saw you on the roof. Why did she stop the royal guard from attacking you?"

"How should I know?" I said shrugging. "Maybe she realized he couldn't win and would only end up as a roasted bird?" I suggested. "Why do you want to know? Who are you anyway?"

He brushed a strand of black hair behind his ear and smiled. "My name's Izo. But the princess seemed to like you – I mean, duh, you're hot – so… if she likes you, or even if she just has sympathy for you, we could make use of that. We could –"

"I didn't ask what your name was, I asked who you _are_!" I snapped. What the hell was this guy babbling about?

The cross dresser looked taken aback. "I'm just like you… living from the street, stealing to get by."

Knowing this made me relieved, since he wasn't working for or with the government in any way, but at the same time it made me cautious. Thieves weren't the most trustworthy people, after all.

"Is that what you wanted to know?" Izo asked, cocking his eyebrow.

I nodded. "For now."

"Alright. Now, about the princess… You could become friends with her and get access to the palace and all its gold, and we could be rich within no time."

Sucking on my lip, I thought about this. "It isn't a very bad idea. But… why would I need _you_ for that?"

Izo looked surprised. "Because together we stand stronger! We can back each other up."

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm not convinced."

Suddenly the man pulled a gun out of nowhere and placed it against the underside of my chin, before I could react. "Think again. You need someone to help you, if something goes wrong."

"Bullets won't hurt me, you know that," I said, giving him a look as if he were stupid.

He brought his face close to mine. "You've never tasted these bullets before, honey." He looked deadly serious, not a single trace of insecurity in his eyes. What was so special about those bullets of his? Did they have some kind of seastone in it? Did seastone bullets even exist? Izo was probably just bluffing. But still… what if he wasn't? I didn't want to take the risk.

Sighing I gave in. "Alright. We'll work together in operation Princess."

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><p>TBC~<p>

_aah, so, still no Marco (as I had said), but hopefully you liked Vivi and Izo ^^ (and Thatch of course, since he wasn't properly introduced in the last chapter)_

_Please leave a review to tell what you thought about the chapter~! It encourages me to write faster :P_


	3. Call me Stefan

_Here's chapter three~! I hope you like it :)  
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_Thanks to my beta's Thérèse and Aerle! :D The cover picture of this chapter and every following odd numbered chapter is made by MyLadyDay :D_

_I also noticed that every chapter seems to get longer than the previous XD but I doubt anyone minds much :P Also, I would really love it if you'd review as it highly encourages me~!  
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_anyway, enjoy~!_

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 3:<strong>_

_**Call me Stefan**_

I sat down in my apartment and immediately took the oil lamp out of my bag. I held it in my hands for a while. Should I summon Thatch? It was not that I had a wish, but I did enjoy talking to the man.

It appeared I didn't need to make a decision, however, as within a few seconds the genie was already standing beside me.

I raised my eyebrows. "Don't I need to rub the lamp before you can come out?"

Thatch smiled. "Nope. Once you've rubbed the lamp, you're my master and as long as my master is alive I can come out whenever I want." With a turn of his hand, a comfy chair appeared next to him. "Well, unless you order me to stay inside, of course."

He sat down on the chair, placing one foot on the other knee and leaned back. "So what happened?"

I looked at the comfortable looking furniture and nodded in its direction. "Are you gonna get me one of those too?"

Thatch grinned. "If you want to use one of your wishes for it…"

I snorted. "In your dreams." However, the ground was still rock hard when I sat down on it. Oh well, I was used to it.

"Now, tell me, tell me. What happened? Something with… a princess?" Thatch asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. "I'm not totally sure what happened myself. I stole some money and while running, my way was suddenly blocked by a girl. I took her in my arms and escaped to the rooftops. There I discovered that the girl was the princess! Can you believe that?"

"Well, yeah, I already expected something like that. But she didn't say what she was doing there, right?" the genie asked me.

"No, I still don't have a clue." It frustrated me a bit. Why would a princess be out in the streets on her own, meddling with the scum of the city – because that was what I was part of. "I wanted to take her with me, but then there was this bird-man who came to save her."

Thatch head snapped up. "Bird-man?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Some high ranked guard probably. A Zoan type. Looked like a falcon to me."

"Oh." The brown haired man shook his head. "And you let them escape?"

I shrugged. "They let me go, so I let them go? I wasn't intending to meet – let alone kidnap – the princess in the first place, so…" I let the sentence end in silence.

"Hm, and then?" Thatch continued to ask. "There was a… man? Izo, I believe?"

"Yeah, Izo… He somehow got me to work together with him to invade the palace or something." I frowned while telling him.

"How did he look?" The genie asked almost impatiently.

Raising my eyebrows, I asked, "What do you mean?" But then I remembered he heard everything and must have heard me ask about the man's gender. "Oh, well, I first thought he was a woman, because he was wearing female clothes and make-up." I chuckled when I remembered it. "But apparently he was a man."

The brunet laughed shortly. "What kind of female clothes? A dress? A dancing girl uniform?"

The image of Izo in a dancing girl's outfit made me laugh. "No, it was a kind of eastern fashion. A bit like those… what are they called?"

"A geisha?" the genie guessed.

My finger pointed at him as if to point at the word he'd just said. "A geisha, yes."

Thatch smiled contently. Why wasn't really clear to me; it seemed like he was very pleased with himself for guessing it right or something.

I shifted my weight uneasily to move the pressure point from my right buttock to my left.

"Alright, alright, I'm in a good mood, so you're lucky." Thatch had apparently noted my uneasiness and with a swift movement of his hand another chair appeared next to him. He nodded at the piece of furniture. "Sit down."

As I stood up, he continued his interrogation with a grin. "So, did Izo threaten you?"

I frowned. "Of course not._ I _threaten people, people don't threaten _me_." I sat down and almost got swallowed by the cushions of the chair. I let out a quiet moan at the feeling of the softness. "Seriously though. How do you do this? Do you just magically make them appear out of nothing or do you get them from somewhere?"

Thatch chuckled again. "The last. I can only get things that already exist somewhere. These chairs are from the prime-minster's home," he added grinning.

A laugh escaped my lips. The furniture had just become even more comfortable, knowing that a government official had to miss it.

"However, it does take quite some effort. I mean I can't just use my powers limitless," the genie continued to explain. "Since I'm only supposed to use them three times, to make peoples wishes come true, it really takes much energy to do so without a wish. I can just do small things unless you wish for it. So be glad I like you. Next time you want something you _will_ have to use a wish for it though. That costs no energy at all."

Smiling we fell into a comfortable silence. Well, I was used to it anyway, since I had been more or less alone for most of my life. Well, not the first half of it, but I couldn't remember that much about it. Only the people who had raised me and the one person who had really been important to me, the only friend I'd ever had, and who I had lost.

I shook my childhood memories away and my gaze was once again attracted to the intriguing body of my genie, through which I could still see the minister's chair. "What is it your body is made from?" I asked curiously. "I mean, as a genie, you're semitransparent.

Thatch looked at his own hand. "You know…" he started. "I haven't got a clue."

I snickered. "You don't know what your body is made of?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Like you know exactly what you're made of!"

"Well, yeah. Flesh, blood, bones," I answered him. "But I'm not see-through."

The brunet snorted. "That's not nearly all you exist of, dumbass." He sighed. "No one ever told me what happened with my body. I mean, it's not even my real body. Probably just a sort of projection of my spirit?"

That explanation left me even more confused. "Then what _is_ your real body? And where is it?"

Thatch laughed shortly. "Oh, my real body looked exactly the same. But it's probably buried and perished long ago. Probably not more than bones now."

I gawked at him. "You were human?!"

"Yes, I used to be human. But that's a long, long time ago, so shall we forget about it now?"

"But…" I pouted. "How did you become a genie?"

The brown haired man rubbed his temples. "Ace, let's save that story for another time. Shouldn't you be thinking of your next wish?"

I shot him an annoyed look for changing the subject. "Why? No need to hurry, right?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't mind if you'd hurry."

There were a thousand and one questions I still wanted to ask him, but eventually I decided to save them for another time. The genie was obviously not in the mood to talk about his past now. Or he just didn't trust me with the story, which was very plausible. After all, he had known me for only a day now. I still wasn't sure why I had trusted him with _my_ biggest secret.

"So, you're gonna go to the palace tomorrow, correct?" Thatch asked in a lighter tone than the one he had been speaking in before.

"Yeah, I agreed to meet Izo at the Wall, around eleven o'clock tomorrow morning," I answered, though I didn't really know why I explained it. Thatch must already have heard it when I set that date.

"Can I come with you?"

I looked at him to see whether he was serious or not. "No, of course not. Izo is a thief. If I would show him my genie, I'm pretty sure he would try to steal you."

The man seemed to think for a moment. "What if I pretend to be a dog?"

The surprise probably showed on my face. "You can?"

"Yeah, I can take on different forms." He nodded. "But like I said, it takes some effort, especially if I want to stay in that form for a longer time. But it's better than staying inside that lamp all the time."

I shook my head. "I could just leave you and the lamp here… then you could stay outside too."

"Yeah, but…" he protested, the argument dying on his lips.

"Why do you want to go so badly?"

The genie shrugged. "I like to be outside, going on adventures. Besides, I want to see Izo. I mean, with what you've told about him, I'm curious about what he looks like."

I thought about it for a moment, but then laughed at the idea. "I will sneak into the palace. I can't go walking around with a dog!"

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><p>I sighed as I walked in the direction of the place, pulling the cap of my coat a bit further over my head. Beside me trotted an ordinary looking street dog.<p>

"You should call me Stefan."

I shot the animal an annoyed look. "Dog's don't talk, Thatch." Again, somehow, the genie had convinced me to take him with me. He seemed to have a gift for that. However, he had agreed to stay outside the palace walls.

"It's Stefan!" the dog corrected me. "Woof."

I burst out laughing. "Dogs don't say 'woof' either, idiot. They bark." Rolling my eyes, I asked, "Are you even capable of barking?"

This question was answered by a series of noises that probably had to resemble barking. It was _almost_ convincing. "Just keep your mouth shut, _Stefan_. That's the most believable."

"Right," the animal said, smiling.

"Don't smile either. That's creepy."

We reached a more crowded part of the city and my pet conveniently shut up. A little while later we reached the tall palace walls, where Izo was already waiting. The man was wearing dark, greyish yellow clothes, making him look almost invisible against the walls of the city's buildings, if you weren't expecting him. However, the clothes were still eastern woman's clothes.

My pet did some kind of bark to greet the man. I had to admit it was the best sounding one he'd made, but still shot him an angry look. "Ssht!"

Izo raised his perfectly styled eyebrows. "Is he with you?"

"Yeah, this is my dog, Stefan," I explained. "I _had_ to take him out or he would go crazy." That wasn't even a lie.

"Stefan?" The crossdresser gave the dog an investigating look, but then shook his head. "He'd better not get in the way of our plan."

"Of course not. He'll just stay here and wait." I watched the dog who was happily wagging his tail. Then I looked back at Izo. "So what _is _the plan?"

"Alright, it's pretty simple. You already know the princess, so you're going in and try to befriend her. Behind this wall are the royal gardens. I've heard she spends most of her time there," the man explained. "I'll stay here and keep the escaping route free of unnecessary obstacles."

A little confused I cocked my head. "You're not coming with me?"

"Oh, I'd love to come with you, honey." He paused a little longer than necessary, as if to give the words some time to sink in, before continuing. "But it's a little risky. Let's save that for next time. You'll first have to scout the palace. That way it reduces the chance of one of us getting caught."

_It reduces the chance of _you_ getting caught_, I thought a little annoyed. But it didn't matter. I wouldn't get caught anyway. "And how exactly am I going to get in?" I asked, though I did have an idea about that.

Izo looked skeptically at me. "You jump over the wall. Or fly. Whatever you call it. Use those hot powers of yours. I know you can."

I looked up at the giant wall. It was at least some thirty feet high, possibly more. "Yeah, that should be possible."

A quick look around told me we were alone at that moment. "Alright, keep an eye on Stefan for me, will you?" I cast a last warning look at my genie, hoping he wouldn't do anything stupid. Then my lower body burst into flames and I shot up into the air.

Within a few seconds I landed on top of the wall. This seemed like a nice place for some first observations. However, the wall was less thick than I had anticipated and I lost my balance.

With a loud 'thud!' I hit the ground on the inside of the wall, face flat against the grass covered earth. I caressed the sore spot on my head, where flames were licking at my skin. I sighed because of my own clumsiness and sat up to take a look around. I was surprised to look right at the face of a giant duck. It looked back at me as if he had never seen something like me before. Well, he probably didn't see men falling from the sky every day.

He blinked. I blinked. Would he be edible? I could at least bring back some food.

As if the duck read my mind, he slowly took a step back, his gaze never leaving me.

I stood up, carefully slow, to make sure I didn't scare the animal away. Licking my lips, I imagined the taste of duck. It had been so long ago since I had had one. And this one was huge, so Izo and Thatch could easily eat from it too. Realizing I was drooling, I wiped my mouth.

"Quaaack!" the duck screamed and ran away. I tried to pursue it, but after a few second I already noticed my attempt was in vain. How could a duck be so damn fast?

I stopped and sighed. Well, alright, no duck tonight then. Now I _really_ took a good look around. Behind me was the immense wall I had come over. I had indeed landed in the royal gardens, as Izo had predicted. There was grass growing on the ground and a few trees that half hid the palace from my sight. With my mouth open, I looked at the building. Everything was so big! Seen from the city, the tall walls made it almost impossible to take a good look at the palace. But from here it looked so… majestic.

Suddenly I noticed a guard at one of the palace doors. Quickly I pressed my back against the nearest tree to hide myself, even though I was pretty sure the guard wasn't even looking my way. I couldn't be careful enough. Cautiously I looked around the tree towards the palace again.

"Quack, quaaack!" the familiar sound seemed to reach me even before I saw the animal to whom it belonged, in the distance. _Shit, shit, shit! _That duck was going to reveal my presence, wasn't he? He was going to show the guards! I looked up at the tree to see if I could hide there. There was one branch that looked big enough to support my weight, but I would still be in plain sight. Still, I could try. Maybe they didn't look high enough to see me there.

However, when I looked aside, the duck was already standing there, carrying a familiar blue haired girl on his back. She seemed surprised to see me, but not necessarily in a good way.

I laughed sheepishly, a little caught off guard. "Hello Your Highness."

"You?! What are you doing here?" she asked, while the duck cautiously walked closer to me. "Are you trying to get caught after all?"

Rolling my eyes, I recovered myself. "My name's Ace, remember? Not 'you'. I thought you knew that so well." I said it, but at the same time I realized that to her, I probably wasn't more than just another subject. But I was here to change that, after all.

"Ace," she said calmly, stepping from her duck and walking towards me, but not before she petted the animal to reassure him. "You scared Carue. How did you get in here?"

So Carue was the duck's name? Shrugging I answered her question. "I jumped over the wall."

She looked disbelieving at me, then up at the giant wall and back. "I guess that's possible, if it's you," she murmured. "Are you here to steal from me?"

Was I that obvious? "No, of course not."

"Then why are you here?" she asked, seemingly believing my lie.

"I wanna talk to you some more. Our encounter yesterday was very… interesting," I answered, which was true. I hadn't expected to meet her in a back alley.

I sat down against the tree in the soft grass. How was the stuff even able to grow in such a dry climate? "Since you asked me what_ I_ was doing _here_, I think it's only fair if you told me what _you_ were doing in that alley yesterday."

Vivi shrugged. "I just happened to see you, so I went after you. You stole from someone and I couldn't just let that happen."

Laughing, I shook my head. "Princess, you were alone and incognito," I pointed out, looking her in the eyes.

She sighed and looked around. "Fine, I'll talk to you, but not here. The risk of someone seeing you is too high." Climbing back on her duck, she instructed, "Make sure you get behind that tree unseen." She pointed at the tree closest to the palace that was still big enough to hide behind. "I'll take care of the guard at the door."

Quickly I jumped onto my feet. "But where are we… going?" My question died on my lips as the princess had already taken off. Was she planning to take me into the palace? That was just too easy. I smiled and sneaked from tree to tree, making my way towards the last one without being spotted.

I waited a little while, making sure to breath soundlessly, when I heard footsteps nearing. They were heavy steps, definitely not the princess', nor the duck's. I held my breath, to guarantee the approaching guard wouldn't hear me. However, the steps came closer and closer. _Shiiit_, had he seen me? Maybe not, maybe he just wanted to check, to make sure. But what if he saw me?

Well, than I would just burn him to crisps. Yeah, no problem. Except the plan would be kind of ruined. I closed my eyes when the footsteps had almost reached me.

Suddenly a short, but pinch high scream tore the sky apart. The footsteps rapidly distanced themselves from me and my breath escaped in a relieved sight.

"Princess Vivi, what's wrong?" I heard a male voice say.

"I saw a rat! A giant one!" That was unmistakably the voice of the royal heir. I had to keep myself from sticking my head around the tree to watch what was going on, but I really didn't need to be seen by a guard.

"It was in the east side, near the wall!" she continued, sounding distraught. "Please take it away!"

"Of course, Your Highness."

After that, I didn't hear anything anymore for a few seconds. Until I heard my name. "Ace!"

I looked around to see Vivi gesturing me to come closer. When I was sure there were no guards around, I hurried towards the palace, where she was waiting.

"Come on, we'll go to my room, there we'll be able to talk freely," she said as she walked inside.

Cautiously I followed her, not really sure she wasn't luring me into a trap. Because why wouldn't she? She really had no reason to be kind to me. Still, I followed.

I looked around at all the foreign beauty that was inside the building. Never ever in my life had I dreamed to be walking around in such a rich place, let alone the freaking _palace_! Then I remembered I was supposed to be a scout and paid more attention to where we were going. The giant halls were almost completely empty. The one person that was in them was far away and was standing with his back towards us, so he wasn't a problem. It was hard to focus, however, because I was so overwhelmed by all the richness of the building. Never before had I felt so out of place.

Suddenly Vivi pulled my arm to the right. I had been so distracted that I hadn't noticed she had gone that way.

"How can you live here?" I asked whispering, while going after her.

She looked at me. "What do you mean?"

What, did I have to explain that? She obviously didn't have any trouble with living like this then. "It's so big and empty and… expensive," I explained. "How can you feel comfortable and at home at such a place?"

She shrugged. "I've lived here my whole life, I don't know any better."

Funny, really, how she chose the word 'better' and not 'worse'.

"However, sometimes it does feel – " She stopped talking as she stopped in her track. "Never mind. We're here."

She opened the door we were standing in front of, and let me in. I stepped a little hesitantly inside. It was the princess' bedroom, after all. Well, it might just be her bedroom, but it was just as big as my whole apartment! And a lot more luxurious, of course, but that was about the easiest thing to achieve in this world.

As I walked through the room, she closed the door again, so no one would see nor hear us. "Please sit down," she said. "On the bed or on a chair, or the sofa… whatever you like." She was obviously a little embarrassed.

I looked at the chairs and to the turquoise sofa, but my gaze ended at the grand bed. Could I? It looked damn soft. Well, she said I could, so why not?

With a jump I let myself fall down on the comfortable mattress and sheets. I pulled my feet on top of the bed too and laid down on my back. A deep moan escaped my throat and I closed my eyes. This feeling… this was heaven and I was drifting on a cloud.

"Uhm…"

I opened my eyes to look at the princess again. Her cheeks were covered with a blush and her lips were curved into a small smile. "I, uhm, I would appreciate it if you took off your boots before putting your feet on top of my bed."

I looked at my black footwear and quickly sat up. "I'm sorry." As soon as I could I pulled my feet out of the boots and threw the items on the floor. I checked the sheets. Just a little sand on them, but that was nothing special in a country like this. Contently I lay down again.

Vivi herself sat down in an armchair. "So… do you want to tell me some more about yourself? About where you live, maybe, or your backgrou–"

I interrupted her, not falling for her distraction. "You were going to tell me, princess," I looked her in the eyes, "why you were walking around in the city by yourself, hidden under that big hood."

She looked shocked at me, obviously not used to being interrupted. Then she cast off her eyes and sighed. She let her head drop. "I… I just couldn't handle it anymore. I _had_ to go out, see for myself what the city looked like, how the people really are! All I've ever known is this palace and the few times I'm allowed outside, I'm surrounded by tons of guards and everything always seems nice and peaceful. But then I heard stories that weren't so nice and peaceful. Stories about thieves and violence and things being burned down for no purpose!" At her last words, she looked accusingly at me. "People desperately tried to hide those stories from me, but I still heard the guards talk amongst themselves. I occasionally read something that wasn't meant for me, but what my father had left about in his office. I don't understand. I need to rule one day, right? I should know what is going on! Why is everyone keeping this from me? Pretending like this world is perfect?"

A tear rolled down her cheek. "I could only think of one thing; going out on my own. Without anyone knowing of it, I walked into the city. Amongst many things, I saw you stealing. When I noticed that fire, I knew you were the one people had been talking about when they thought I couldn't hear them, Firefist. So…" She wiped away the tear. "So I learned that not everyone is living relatively wealthy and happy. However, I'm still not sure why you need to be stealing."

So that was how it was? Lying on my side, I studied her face. She seemed really frustrated and confused and I was not sure what to say. On the one hand I couldn't believe her naivety about the world, but at the same time I could understand where it came from. If she was locked up in here all the time…

"I haven't seen much yet, however. And now they are keeping an extra eye on me, so that I won't escape again. The guards at the entrance have gotten specific instructions not to let me out and check upon everyone who could possibly be me in disguise." She let out a frustrated groan. "Really, my father is sweet, but takes 'keeping me safe' a little too far. He can't keep me save from the whole world. I need to know these things!"

"So… you're actually a captive in your own home." It was more a statement than a question. She nodded barely visible. "Then you should understand what I said about freedom. That it isn't right to take it away."

She thought about it for a moment and then nodded slowly. "But… you are free… you obviously don't care about others. What others think or like or anything. You do whatever _you_ like."

I sat up, a little offended. "It's not like I murder people or something! I just steal to get around and sometimes I need to set something on fire in the process. Besides that, I only use violence to defend myself and my freedom. I am only free as long as I stay out of the hands of _your_ people."

"They are hardly _my_ people!" Vivi defended herself. "Like I said, I have almost no control over anyone outside, even _in,_ this palace. So they are just as much my people as you a–"

"Your Highness?" A voice from outside the room interrupted our talk. It was followed by a knocking on the door. I looked a little worried at Vivi, but she looked plainly shocked back. Shit, someone came to check upon her and was about to discover my presence.

"Princess Vivi," the man continued. "Are you in there? Can I come in, yoi?"

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><p><em>TBC~!<em>

_OMG, am I going to leave you there? Sure as hell I am! :D_

_see you next chapter~!_

_and please leave a review saying what you thought of this chapter/the story until now and/or theories you have (if you have any) :D it encourages me to write faster ;)_


	4. Can I come in?

_I'm sorry it took so long! It's the end of the semester again, so I'm a bit busy. My last deadline is on the 16th of june, so hopefully I'll be able to update faster after that ;) Also, I just finished my other multi-chapter, so this is the only one I need to be updating now ^^_

_Thanks to Aerle and Thérèse for betaing! :D Also thanks to Kyuunonana on tumblr for giving some advice on how to deal with shot people XD  
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_Well, let me (finally) give you some Marco now ;)_

_Enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 4:<strong>

_**Can I come in?**_

"Can I come in, yoi?"

Vivi looked at me with wide eyes. I returned her look with worry. What to do now? Could she keep the man on the other side of her door out? Should I jump out of the window? I could remember walking up at least two giant stairs, but that didn't necessarily have to be a problem.

"Your Highness?" I saw the door handle slowly go down.

"No! Don't come in!" the princess suddenly exclaimed. The man effectively stopped pushing down the handle. "I-I'm changing. Please give me a minute," she added.

Then she waved her hands at me in a shooing motion – or that was how it came across to me. "Quick, get into my wardrobe," she whispered so quietly that I almost didn't hear her.

I looked behind me, where an enormous wooden closet was standing. As fast as I could, I got onto my feet and tiptoed towards it. She passed me and opened the two doors of the wardrobe. Taking out a dress, she pushed me inside. I ended up between tons and tons of clothes. I was sure I could get lost in here. What on earth did a human being need _that_ many articles of clothing for? How did she even have time to wear everything?

The doors were closed behind me and I was left in almost complete darkness. Almost, as the top of the closet doors were made of a sort of raster. I shoved some of the clothes on hooks aside, so I could stand a little more comfortable and could just peek through the raster, into the room. I could see Vivi pulling the dress off the clothing hook and throw it onto the bed.

"Alright," she said out loud. "You can come in now, Marco."

The door opened and a man walked in. He wore a posh uniform, a little similar to that of the guard outside, but not exactly the same. I guessed his age at somewhere in his late thirties, but that could also be because of his tired looking eyes. However, the most intriguing feature of the man was his hair. It immediately reminded me of a pineapple.

"What is it?" the girl asked him, obviously trying to sound polite, but not really succeeding.

"I came to check upon you," the man – Marco – told her. "Bob told me you had seen a rat and he went to look for it, but he couldn't find it. When he returned, you were gone, yoi. We were worried."

After what Vivi had just told me, the concept of 'worried' got a whole other meaning.

The princess sighed. "I'm fine. I was just changing clothes, no need to worry." She smiled, like she was happy everyone was so concerned about her. "But why has he stopped looking?"

The man kept looking at her. "It seemed the animal you are referring to, wasn't there… anymore. However, Carue was acting a little strange too. So that worried us as well."

What, so this man could read the duck's behavior? Ducks were always acting weird. Why did he think he could base anything on how the animal acted?

I saw Marco stepping a little further into the room and closing the door behind him. He looked around, eyes lingering on the bed and on the dress that had to 'prove' that Vivi had been changing earlier. Then his eyes travelled on and he ended looking straight into my eyes. Well, he could almost certainly not see me, but my heart still skipped a beat.

"Your Highness," Marco began talking again. "Could it be that I heard you talking to someone just now, before I knocked at your door, yoi?"

She visibly tensed. "No, no, of course not. I, ehm, I was talking to myself."

She wasn't a very good liar. She didn't even sound convinced of it herself. Neither seemed Marco. He slowly walked towards me. Shit, he _could_ see me?

However, the man let his eyes wander around the room again. So maybe he _hadn't_ seen me. I almost let out a relieved sigh, but remembered in time to not make a single sound.

When the blonde came closer, my attention was caught by his necklace. Or rather, what I had first thought was a necklace. Now that he was close by, I could see it was anything but decorative jewelry. This ring around his neck couldn't easily be taken off whenever he wanted.

The fact that this man had eaten a devil fruit, but couldn't use his powers anymore, immediately made me feel a little sympathy towards him. Just a little though, because he was still working in the palace and thus for the government.

Marco came to a stop at the foot end of the bed and crouched down. When he got up again, I could hit myself on the head because of my stupidity. In his hands, were a pair of slightly dirty and worn out, black boots. My boots, to be precise.

He turned to Vivi again. "So who's are these, yoi?"

"Mine," the princess said quickly.

Of course the man didn't buy that. "These are a man's boots, Your Highness."

"No, they're mine," Vivi insisted, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

The blonde sighed. "Princess, they are about ten sizes too big for you." He was so bold as to sit on the girl's bed. "Please, come sit with me for a moment."

Arms still crossed, she gave him a disapproving look. But after a few seconds she gave in and sat down next to the man.

"Look, Vivi," he started, surprising me with how informal he suddenly was. "I understand that you're at an age where you get interested in boys, yoi. But you are the princess and I have to protect you. You cannot just date any guy you meet."

"Marco!" she said with a bright red face. "We are not dating!"

The pineapple head smiled. "So there _is_ a guy. You know I am not really one for rules, but I have my orders too. If something happens to you, they also look at me."

I snorted mentally. This guy didn't seem too bad, but a little stupid. If he wasn't one for rules, then why was he so keen on keeping this job, where rules seemed to be quite important. Oh well, it probably paid good.

"I don't mind if you meet with some guy, yoi. But you have to be careful. Boys your age mainly focus on physical contact, I can affirm that from when I was young."

"I think he's a little older than me," Vivi brought in.

That made Marco raise his eyebrows. "How much older?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "A few years."

A short chuckle escaped the man's lips. "That doesn't make the situation much better, yoi. Rather worse." He shook his head. "Men around the age of twenty are perverts."

I snorted insulted. Excuse me? Just because _he_ couldn't keep his hands to himself, didn't mean that _I_ was the same!

At that moment I noticed the two on the bed had frozen and I realized I had made a sound, however small it might have been. _Shiiit._

"I-I don't think he's like that, Marco," Vivi tried to say before the man could stand up to search for me. "Besides, we're not dating or anything! We just talked."

Marco smiled. "If you say so. Just be careful, alright? You're too young to lose your virginity. Or to lose it at all to some stranger, yoi."

"That's enough!" the princess said with a head like a tomato. "You're embarrassing me!"

Marco laughed, a sound that somehow made me a little less tense. "Alright, I think you get the message, yoi." He stood up and continued a little more quiet, as if he was telling her a secret, "Is he still here somewhere?"

I wondered why he asked it though. It was pretty obvious he had heard the sound I made before and besides, why would I leave without my boots? However, I hadn't expect Vivi to nod in response. Why would she do that? Was she trying to get me arrested after all? I was considering to burst out of the wardrobe and try to get away, but quickly decided that wasn't the best course of action. Maybe it wouldn't be necessary.

Marco shot a look at me – or at the closet – but didn't come any closer. "What's his name?"

I had never been so quiet in my life. If she told him… well, to be honest, it wouldn't be the end of the world. I mean, even if he tried to catch me, what could he do? He didn't have his devil fruit powers and beside that, the seastone ring around his neck also made him weaker or at least less energetic than usual. I could easily handle him, should it be necessary.

However, the princess restored my faith in her a little. "I can't tell you that."

The man sighed and finally – fucking finally – put my boots down on the floor again. "Well, I'll just go get you some tea then, alright? I'll be back in ten minutes, yoi." Before he walked out the door, I could swear I saw him winking at the princess.

The door was closed and both Vivi and I let out a relieved sigh. However, a few seconds past in which I still wasn't completely sure if I could leave my hiding place. But then the girl opened her mouth. "You can come out of the closet now."

I immediately pushed the door open and stepped out of the wardrobe, inhaling the fresh air. It was only now that I realized how musty it had been inside it. "What the hell was that all about?"

"Don't ask me," she answered. "Just be glad it was Marco, who came after me, not anyone else."

I shrugged. "Guess you're right."

She looked up, into my eyes, looking a little lonely. "Well, you should get going now. He gave you ten minutes to leave."

I nodded and pulled on my boots. When I was all set to go, she spoke to me again. "What are you going to do with what I've told you?"

I thought about this for a moment. "Nothing." Maybe tell Thatch or Izo, if I felt it was needed. "Should I do something with it?"

Silently, she shook her head. I was almost going to say she could escape with me, but that would make matters only worse, both for me and her. Besides, that was not part of the plan.

Talking about the plan… "Will I see you again?"

A smile appeared on her face. "That would be nice, but… maybe it would be safer if you'd come at night, next time?" When I nodded in agreement, she continued. "The day after tomorrow, around eleven? You could sneak in through my window. There aren't that many guards down there, underneath my window, at night. They think I sleep around that time. There might be a few more at the surrounding wall though."

"That's okay, should be possible." I walked to the door and opened it carefully. No one seemed to be around. "Well, see ya." And with that I left the room and closed the door, hearing a quiet 'bye' coming from behind it.

As quick as possible, I made my way down the hall. As soon as I neared a junction, I pressed myself against the wall and carefully took a glance around the corner. Still no one there. Carefully, I made my way through the palace, hoping I was going the _right_ way. The building was huge, after all, and I hadn't paid _that_ much attention when coming here.

When I hadn't seen anyone after I was halfway through the palace, I began to grow a little suspicious, but at the same time a little less careful. And bumped into a table with some candle stands on it. Which fell. And made a lot of noise. _Shit._

I waited until the sound had died out and listened carefully. Footsteps. There were footsteps coming my way of at least two armed people. _Fuuuck, where could I hide?_ I looked around, but going back wasn't really an option and going forwards – well, I would walk into the guards for sure. I looked at the table, which had a large cloth over it.

_I could try._

Quickly I dove underneath it. The cloth left a gap of a little more than a foot until the floor, so I crept against the wall the table was standing against, in the hope the guards wouldn't see me. At the last moment I saw one of the candlesticks had fallen onto the floor and was lying half underneath the table. I snatched it away, just before I saw two pair of feet coming around the corner.

"Who's there?" one of the men asked. Was he seriously expecting me to answer?

I heard the other man putting the candle stands on the table back in place. I just hoped he wouldn't notice there was one missing, but apparently he didn't, as he suddenly said, "The princess! Maybe there's an intruder to kidnap the princess!"

The first man chuckled. "Yeah, right. How would he have sneaked in? I rather think the princess is trying to get _out_ again."

"Well, nonetheless, we should check her chamber." The two man quickly distanced themselves into the direction I just came from.

When their steps slowly disappeared, I let out a relieved sigh. Getting caught now wouldn't make sneaking in a next time easier. It wasn't like I couldn't handle a few simple guards, but they would be more careful next time. Besides, they probably knew my face, so what if they deemed me a higher priority to catch? That wouldn't be nice. No, I'd better be careful.

I put the candle stand into my coat, where it barely even fitted. It would be a nice souvenir to bring back to Izo. I crept out of my hiding place and listened carefully before I continued my way. It took me about two more minutes to find the exit towards the gardens again.

I pressed my back against the wall when I saw the guard at the door. I needed to distract him if I wanted to get outside without being seen. I spotted a tree not too far away and send a fiery spark towards it. Unfortunately, my aim was a little off and the grass in front of the tree caught flame. Well, whatever, as long as the guard was distracted. And he was. He quickly ran towards the small fire while he pulled off his jacket, using it in a try to take out the flames.

I quickly made my way towards the place at the wall where I had come from and jumped up, hoping no one would see me. A cloud of dust whipped up when my feet touched the ground on the other side of the wall again.

Izo was sitting against the wall and was petting Tha ̶ Stefan. He looked up at me. "And? How'd it go?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You are looking rather relaxed. Weren't you supposed to be on watch?"

He looked unimpressed back. "I can be on watch while sitting down." When I didn't seem convinced, he rolled his eyes and nodded towards something behind me. "Do they look like they will get in the way?"

I turned around and saw two men – palace guards, obviously – lying on the ground, a couple of yards away from us and from each other. My eyes widened as I turned back to Izo. "Are they dead?"

He shrugged, still caressing Stefan's fur. "Don't know, didn't check. They were down and that was enough. They didn't make too much noise after I had shot them though."

I looked stunned at the crossdresser. He didn't care whether he killed someone or not?! Did that mean he had killed people before? Probably.

"You're looking rather unintelligent right now," Izo commented.

I scowled at him. "Shut up! Shouldn't you check if you murdered people? And, you know, hide the bodies or something?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, maybe." Standing up, he continued, "You can check them. And then you're gonna tell me what happened in the palace."

I quickly walked towards the first guard and saw a small puddle of blood coming from underneath the man's stomach. I removed his helmet and pressed my fingers against his neck. It took a few moments before I felt a faint heartbeat and sighed relieved. "This one is still alive."

"So is this one," Izo responded, getting up from next to the other guard. "Not for very long anymore, though."

That worried me a little. I didn't want to be responsible for someone's death, even if it was the crossdresser who shot them. "Shouldn't we put pressure on the wounds? Or get a doctor?"

My partner in crime raised an eyebrow at me. "You want to help the government?" He narrowed his eyes. "What's your opinion about them, anyway?"

"Of course I don't want to help them!" I was getting a little irritated. "I hate them. But I don't want to let people die, if it can be helped."

Izo shook his head and muttered something that sounded like, "You're so naïve." I decided to pretend I hadn't heard that and let the man continue. "Oh, fine. Let me handle it. I'll make sure a doctor will see them."

He started to walk towards the more crowded part of the city. Stefan trotting right behind him. I followed as well, pulling my hood over my head again and looking at the dog's happily wagging tail. Why did Thatch seem to be more Izo's pet than mine? Oh, whatever, as long as he stayed my genie, he could do whatever he wanted.

After a little while, Izo instructed me to wait in a side alley, while he pulled a scarf over his hair and part of his face. He walked into the crowd, quickly followed by Stefan. I wanted to call the dog back, but was already too late. It would attract too much attention if I did it now anyway.

I watched Izo strike a dramatic pose. "Oh my God!" he screamed in a high voice that could pass for a woman's voice. "Somebody help! Help! Call a doctor!" He fell down on his knees. "Two men were shot near the palace walls! Please send help! They're dying!"

I could barely stop myself from laughing out loud. The thief was hilarious.

A man crouched down next to Izo. "Miss? I'm a doctor. Miss, could you please bring me to the victims?"

The crossdresser let out a surprisingly believable sob. "I don't think I could handle looking at their bodies again. I-I might faint."

"It's okay," the man tried to sooth the supposed to be woman. "Just tell me in what direction I should go."

Izo pointed to the direction we had come from. "That way. Near the wall. Please hurry and save them!"

The man stood up and ran towards the dying guards. After having waited a few seconds, Izo got up too and walked back towards me, wiping away a tear. Wait, had he _really_ been crying?

"Fuck, is my make-up run-out?" he asked me.

I studied his face, only feeling slightly awkward that I got this question from a guy. "Can't notice anything different, so you're okay."

"Good." He walked on, deeper into the alley I had been waiting in. "I could swear your dog snorted at me just now."

I chuckled when I looked at my genie and got an innocent look back. "Yeah, he makes some weird sounds sometimes." Again I followed him, wondering where exactly we were going. "You should become an actor, you know?"

He smiled. "I _have_ done some stage performances in my youth. But fate had other plans with me." A distant look appeared in his eyes. "Not that I complain. At least, not until a certain point."

That got me curious. "What point?"

Izo laughed and stopped at the side of a building, pulling some kind of curtain aside and revealing an open doorway. "You know me _way_ too short to hear about that story, Ace." He cocked his head in a way to urge me inside and I complied. "We haven't even slept together yet!"

I froze in the doorway. Was that what he was trying to do? Get me into his bed? Because there was no way that was going to happen.

Izo laughed even harder. "Don't worry, honey! I was just kidding. Though I wouldn't complain if you'd decide to join me for the night." He went to walk in front of me again, leading me through a hallway that gave access to different rooms. All these rooms didn't seem very big and most had a kind of girly interior, with a lot of pillows and stuff. Some were occupied by girls, some by… men, probably. Izo's kind of men. But most of the inhabitants were real women, I guessed.

Izo stopped near the end of the hallway and pulled another cloth aside. "Come in. It's not much, but this is where I live."

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><p><em>~TBC~<em>

_Please leave a review with your thoughts about the story/this chapter! I am really curious what you think about it! _

_And hopefully see you next chapter! :D_


	5. Genie in a bottle

_whooo just withing the 3 months I said after which you could worry about me XD I'm sorry it took so very long. first there was the MarcoAce week and then suddenly real life got very busy, but the new chapter is finally here ^^ I hope you can forgive me._

_Thanks to Aerle and Thérèse for betaing! :D_

_Enjoy~!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 5:<strong>

**Genie in a bottle**

I was surprised at how much luxury there was inside Izo's home. At the back of the room laid a mattress with a lot of cushions on and around it, which seemed really comfy. Against the side wall stood a small cabinet and it even had a mirror above it! A small window took care of the light inside the room. When I turned around, I saw there was a small closet against the other wall as well. It wasn't even a third the size of the princess' closet I had hid in only a short while before, but still big enough to store a lot of clothes.

"Make yourself comfortable," Izo said, but I had already let myself fall down on the mattress. He chuckled and sat down next to me – a little too close for my taste, but I didn't try to move away. Thatch laid down on the other side of me, placing his dog's head in my lap. I raised my eyebrows, but again didn't do anything to change it.

"So, uhm, what is this place, where you live?" I asked my colleague thief. "It looks like a brothel."

Izo chuckled. "And how would you know what a brothel looks like from the inside? You're as green as grass."

"I'm not!" I protested while fighting the blush off my face. I sent him an annoyed look. "Not at all."

"Oh, so you _have_ visited a brothel then?"

"No!" What the hell was he thinking of me? This was just how I imagined a whore house to look like. "That doesn't mean I have no experience at all, though!" Well, it didn't. Those two things had nothing to do with each other.

Izo laughed. "This is not a brothel, Ace, it's just a place that offers a roof above our head, for a very low price. It's for people with shady jobs, let's put it like that. And it's a place where women and… men like me gather. Even though we don't have that much contact with each other. It's more that we don't need to worry that one of our neighbors creeps up to us at night."

I nodded understandingly, but wasn't exactly sure of what he meant by 'men like me'. "Can I ask you a question?" I started carefully. When he looked expectantly at me, I continued. "Are you a eunuch?"

The crossdresser looked amused. "You want to check that for yourself?"

An image formed itself inside my mind that I couldn't appreciate. It showed on my face too. "No, thanks."

Izo chuckled. "I can assure you, everything is still where it's supposed to be."

But then he came down to business. "Now, tell me what happened inside the palace walls."

I shook away the image that was still inside my head and remembered why I was here. "Well, it was as you said, I landed in the gardens. There was one man standing at guard at the back entrance of the palace and another patrolling along the wall. I was lucky to land when he wasn't at that particular spot at the moment. Anyway, the princess has a duck, one of those super spot-billed ones, which had spotted me very quickly and he immediately got Vivi, so it wasn't very hard for me to find her."

"Good, so did you become friends?"

"Don't be silly. No one makes friends that quickly." Especially not me. "Besides, I'm still a criminal and she knows that. Despite that, she still took me to her room to talk. You wouldn't believe how gigantic the palace really is! We didn't come across many guards, which surprised me a bit, but I guess they thought it would be enough to have a guard at every entrance. Inside her room, the princess told me something interesting though. She is held hostage in her own home. She can't leave without anyone to accompany her. This means that the guards aren't only there to protect the palace from outsiders, but also – and according to her, mainly – to keep _her_ inside."

"Really?" Izo looked thoughtful. "I hadn't expected the king to treat his daughter like that. But now that you mention it, I have rarely seen her outside the palace, so I guess it does make sense."

"Well, she said her father did it for her own good, or what he thought was right, but that's beside the point," I said.

"So did she tell you anything more that could be of use for us?"

I thought about it. "Not really. We were interrupted."

The crossdresser raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean? Did you get caught?" The tone in his voice betrayed that he was very displeased if this were to be true.

"I didn't get caught! Well, not really. There was a servant who wanted to check up on her, but I had enough time to hide," I explained. "However, before that, I had taken off my boots and I forgot to hide them with me."

Izo pinched the bridge of his nose. "What a thief you are. Can't even clean up your own trail?"

"Oh, shut up! It could happen to anyone." I wished he'd just let me talk. "The guy saw them, but instead of searching for me, he gave her a lecture on how I would be a thread to her virginity."

Izo snorted. "You?!"

"Yeah." I still thought it was ridiculous. "But after that, he told her he'd get tea, in other words, gave me an opportunity to get away."

He frowned. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. He said he wasn't really one for rules. Apparently, he trusted her, I think."

Izo didn't seem convinced, but let it rest. "Okay, so he hasn't seen you? He doesn't know who you are?"

I shook my head.

"Could you get away without problems?"

"Yeah, pretty much," was my answer. "I had to hide one time and distract another guard with a little fire, but I don't think anyone has seen me."

The crossdresser sighed. "Well, that's something. Can you tell me a bit of how the palace is build up? I mean, how do you get to the princess' chamber, for example?"

I looked apologetic to him. "I'm not sure. You know how big that building is? It's easy to get lost in there! But she lives on the second floor. I think I could point it out from the outside." Suddenly, I realized something. "Well, I _hope_ I can. I'll have to. We agreed to meet again the day after tomorrow and I promised to come through her window."

"How romantic," Izo commented slightly sarcastically. "So you don't know where the important stuff is, like the treasure room and such?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, she didn't give me a tour through the palace." But then I remembered something. "However," I undid the first buttons of my clothing, "I did bring you something." Carefully I took out the candle stand.

Izo sat up and took the object from my hands. "Is this real gold?"

Shrugging, I said, "I'm not an expert, but I don't think they put fake golden candle stands on their tables in the palace."

Izo nodded satisfied. "Okay, well, it's something." He put the candle holder on the floor next to him. "But we need to think of the bigger picture. When you go to visit our princess again, I'll come with you. Not to her room," he added when he saw I was going to protest. "Whatever the hell you do there is up to you, but I want to take a look around and, if possible, inside the palace too. Just to get an impression, since you're not really succeeding in giving me one."

I was going to throw a remark back at him, but was interrupted by a wet nose that was pressed against my leg. My dog gave me a pleading look and suddenly I noticed that his scar was visible around his eye. Thatch was probably trying to tell me that we should go home. He had said he wasn't able to keep a different appearance for a very long time, after all. It seemed that time was running out now.

"Alright, fine," I said while standing up. "I'll help you get on the other side of the wall. Shall we meet at the same spot again?"

"That doesn't seem like a very good idea. They found two half dead guards there today. Don't you think they'll keep an extra eye out around there?" Izo stood up too. "Let's meet in that alley you waited for me today when I did my little act."

"Okay. Well, I'd better get going now," I said, not wanting to come across as if I was in a hurry to get away, but still being just that.

"Don't you want to stay for a cup of tea?" Izo asked, seeming a little offended that his company was already about to leave.

"Uhm, next time. Stefan really needs to be taken out for a walk." Well, that sounded like a bad excuse.

The crossdresser looked at my dog, cocking his head slightly. "Why did you call him Stefan?"

I frowned. What did that matter? "I… uh… it just seemed fitting. It was like he told me to call him Stefan," I said slightly sarcastically. "Why?"

Izo shrugged. "Oh, nothing, it's just not a very common name for a dog."

"I guess so." I turned to face the exit. "Well, see you the day after tomorrow then. Eleven p.m.."

"Sure," Izo said. "It's a date."

I rolled my eyes while walking out of the room. "No, it's not."

Me and my dog had only barely made it out of the building, into the empty alleyway, when Thatch turned into his normal form again. "Jeez, I really couldn't hold that much longer."

I snorted. "You were the one who wanted to come along so badly, so stop complaining."

"Oi, I couldn't know you two would take so long, could I?"

"What, you thought we could go home again in five minutes?" I shook my head. "We'll, you'll have to turn into something other than yourself again or go back into the lamp, 'cause I don't want to be seen with you."

"You talk of me like I'm something embarrassing," Thatch said offended.

"You are."

"Hey, that's mean!"

I chuckled. "I was only kidding. But you're too obviously a genie."

"Talking about being a genie," the brunet started, ignoring my wish to transform completely. "Did you already decide what your second wish will be?"

Looking around the corner, into another alley, I stopped and whispered, "No, I didn't. Now turn into something less genie. There's people on our way."

Grumbling, Thatch took the form of the dog again. "Just hurry up. I won't be able to keep up this look for very long."

* * *

><p>The sun was almost setting the next day, when I reached the building I was going for. This time I had managed to go out alone and left my genie at home. He should be able to take care of himself.<p>

I walked through the entrance of the coffee house, taking off my hood so that I could get a better view of the room inside. However, I already knew my way around and went straight for the bar.

The barista immediately looked up at me. "Ah, Ace! How nice of you to visit again. The same as usual?"

Nodding, I sat down. I only had to wait a short time, before a damping mocha was placed in front of me. "Thanks Magura."

"That one's on the house," the man said and I smiled. The first one for me was _always_ on the house. Sometimes I wondered why I didn't come here more often.

"So how's life going?"

Oh yeah, that was why. They always wanted to know everything about me. It wasn't without reason that I had left their house, while I was still practically a kid. Even though life might have been slightly easier if I had stayed with them, I just couldn't bear their constant concerns and interferences. They were always trying to control me one way or another.

"Yeah, fine, thanks," I tried to get away with a short response.

"Yeah? What're you up to, lately?" Magura continued. "Not much good, I heard."

The downside of having your former caretakers own a coffee house, was that they always were the first to hear the gossips going around about you.

"Set half of the market place on fire a few days ago?" He pushed on, trying to make me talk.

I rolled my eyes. "You know things always get exaggerated. It were only one or two stands… I think. Though the neighboring stands could have caught fire too… but hey, I can't help that!"

The barista chuckled. "I'm glad to hear you never change, Ace."

I looked around as he asked me another question, concerning my health. I didn't really listen as my eye caught sight of a story teller that had gathered around a lot of customers to hear his story. He had graying hair, though traces of blond could still be seen, and a small beard. On his nose rested a pair of round glasses that didn't really do anything to hide the scar that ran across his right eye.

"Who's that?" I asked the barista.

"Oi, Ace, I was asking _you_ a question," Magura replied slightly displeased. "You aren't sick, are you?"

"No, I'm not! I said I'm fine!" I answered and hoped the guy would stop asking questions already. "I don't think I have seen that man before. Is he new here?"

Magura shook his head. "Nah, he's a traveling story teller. He's been here a few times before, through the years. He is a bit mysterious though. Don't know much about him myself, but he and Dadan seem to go way back, so he stops by here every few years, when he's in the neighborhood."

"Huh, can't remember seeing him before." I took a sip of my mocha. "Does he have a name?"

"Probably," the barista answered. "They call him the Dark King."

I raised my eyebrows. "Sounds fancy." Looking at the guy, I snorted. "And more dangerous than a story teller should be."

I started to listen to the narrative the man told for a while. It was about two thieves, a day thief and a night thief, who appeared to be both married to the same woman, but never met each other, because when the one was home, the other was working. One day they did find out, however, and they decided to hold a contest in who was best at stealing from people with a trick.

It was interesting, really, how detailed the Dark King could tell about those tricks, almost as if he had experience on that part. But that couldn't be; a story teller was a respected man.

However, he didn't seem to be just a story teller, but a magician too. One of the thieves – the day thief – tricked a soldier by exchanging his purse for a cucumber a few times, without said soldier noticing it, driving him mad. While the story teller told about this, he held up a purse and within a second, it changed into a cucumber. The audience was obviously impressed with it and again, when he 'magically' changed it back into a purse. Really, how did he do that? I couldn't find a flaw in his act that could explain how he changed the two so quickly. The purse just seemed to turn into a cucumber.

By the time the Dark King was halfway through the story, every one of the customers in the coffee house were hanging on his lips. It was always fun to listen to a good story teller, after all. And it was a pretty funny tale too. Eventually the night thief had the better trick and so, won the house and the woman. Well, that might be a bit of a flaw in the story, I thought, because what woman let herself be won? But oh well, it was an old story, I supposed.

My cup that had contained mocha, was long empty and I decided I should head home soon. I did leave Thatch alone there, after all, and I wasn't sure how good of an idea that had been.

As if I had voiced my thoughts of leaving, I heard an all too familiar voice enter the coffee house, from the direction of the living part behind it. "Ace! You weren't planning on leaving without saying hello to me first, did you?"

Only a few of the customers looked up at the voice, but most were used to it and had started conversations again. However, the story teller did look up, right into my eyes and smiled at me. His smile had something reassuring.

Then I tore my eyes away from him, facing Dadan's immense bosom, where I was pushed into at the moment. I tried to struggle out of her tight hug, but I didn't stand a chance. It was a good thing she was on my side.

"Let me go, you old hag," I said, finally freeing myself. "I was indeed just planning to leave."

"Is that your thanks for all these years of raising you? Putting up with your bullshit?!" Dadan said, obviously faking her anger. "You're still the same brat you used to be."

I chuckled. I would never say it out loud, but I did miss her a little when I wasn't here.

"Do you take good care of yourself?" Dadan asked me. "You don't seem to get enough food, there barely is any flesh on your bones." I was going to protest, but she cut me off. "You can always come back here and help out and we'll feed you, you know that."

"No thanks. I'm an independent man, I can take care of myself, don't worry." It was not like I got that much food anyway, when I had lived here. They themselves barely made ends meet. And not only through the legal coffee business, that would not be enough to feed the whole 'family'.

Dadan snorted. "Well, could you not destroy half of the market next time, while being independent?"

"Why does everyone talk about that little thing?" I muttered. It wasn't like it was the first time I had set something on fire and neither would it be the last. But it had been a while ago since I did something so obvious, so... I guessed people just needed something to talk about.

"At least it's good you didn't get caught yet." The woman ruffled my hair, much to my annoyance.

I moved my head away from her hand. "Of course I won't get caught. Don't be stupid." I jumped off the chair. "Well, I gotta go now, got someone waiting for me at home."

Dadan and Magura both raised an eyebrow. "Someone?"

Just now I realized how that must have sounded to them. "Not like that! A friend, sort of... just someone I know, okay, don't ask."

The two of them looked at me, nodding slowly, but clearly not believing me. Oh, whatever, I didn't really care what they thought. I was just happy if they'd let me go without a fuss.

So I waved them goodbye and walked towards the exit, casting one more look at the crowd inside, but the story teller, who had just been smiling at me a minute ago, had already disappeared.

On my way towards my tower, I passed a small bazaar where they sold different kinds of clothes and stuff. One stand was selling cushions too, reminding me of Izo's home, where I had been the other day. Well, his bed _had _been comfortable...

I slowed down a little bit, thinking of just taking one with me. The salesman was busy with one of his customers, and not paying any attention to me, so it was kinda easy to just... I grabbed one of the turquoise colored pillows and walked on as if nothing happened.

However, from the corner of my eyes, I saw that a passing city guard had seen me. _Oops_.

I began to run, as the guard began to chase me. It was a good thing I was almost home already. But the guard was fast and almost caught up with me, when I reached the street that led to the tower I lived in. This was a good opportunity to test how well Thatch's magic worked.

I took a final sprint and ran right into the open doors of the building. There I stopped and turned around. The guard that had been chasing me a moment ago, had stopped as well and was looking around, rather confused. "What the hell... Where the fuck has he gone too?" I heard him mumble, while I was standing only a few feet away from him.

I sighed relieved. Good, so the genie's magic had worked. I would be save here.

Still holding the cushion between my arm and my side, I walked up the stairs. Slowly, very appealing scents reached my nose and they were accompanied by a sound. The higher I climbed, the better I heard the voice. "... be with me, baby there's a price to pay, I'm a genie in a bottle, you gotta rub me the right way~!"

As I reached the last stairs to my floor, I could clearly hear it was Thatch who was singing. "If you wanna be with me, I can make your wish come true, just come and set me frreeee baby, and I'll be with you~!"

I had reached the fourth floor and saw Thatch cooking some stuff above a fire that he apparently had started, while he was using a wooden spoon to sing at. "I'm a genie in a bottle baby, gotta rub me the right way honey, I'm a genie in a bottle baby, come come, come on and let me out."

I snorted. "That just sounds wrong from your mouth."

My genie brusquely turned around to face me. "What do you mean 'wrong'?"

"Just wrong," I said as I dropped the pillow onto the floor. "'Rub me the right way honey'... just, no." I shook my head.

The brunet rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, it's a genie classic!"

I chuckled, but then tried to look over his shoulder, into the pan he was holding. "What're you making? It smells good."

"Just some wild moose meat," Thach answered.

"Moose? What's a moose?" I looked at him with some skepticism. "Can you even cook?"

Thatch laughed mysteriously. "Oh, they come from a land, from a faraway place... In the far north of the world, there are lands covered in snow... you know, frozen rain..." he tried to explain, but he probably saw the doubt on my face.

"Thatch, those are fairy tales."

He chuckled. "No, no, it's true. There are countries where it rains constantly and where it's so cold that the rain turns into snow. Anyway, that's where moose live. They are some kind of deer."

I didn't know what to think of it, but decided to just trust him on this. He was a genie after all, and I was getting less and less surprised about the things he did. Besides, it smelled delicious, so who was I to complain?

And apparently Thatch was a very good cook, because I had never eaten something so tasty in my life. It was so good, in fact, that I dreamed about weird deer-like animals in a completely white world, that night. I was riding one towards the palace, where I took the princess with me to help her escape. It would all have gone perfect, if it wasn't for that pineapple headed servant that showed up to stop me, right before I woke up.

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><p><em>TBC~<em>

_The story about the night and day thieves is an existing Arabic story, just so you know that I haven't made that up when I was drunk or anything (Because Aerle thought so :P)_

_Also, if there is anyone who didn't recognize it, the song Thatch was singing, was 'Genie in a bottle' by Christina Aguilera. It was stuck in my head since the beginning of this story, so I had to make Thatch sing it XD_

_Next chapter will have some Marco in it again, I promise. _

_Please leave a review with your thoughts! :D_


	6. Shirts are overrated

_Hey guys, another chapter for you, I hope you like it. Thanks to Aerle and Thérèse for betaíng! :D _

_I've got two little things though: one, the next chapter will probably take a while again, I'm sorry, but I need to focus on the Halloween fic that I'm writing, this month, so probably won't have time to work on this story before Halloween._

_Second, I have a poll on my profile, concerning other versions of Alabastan Nights, with other pairings. I would love to hear your opinion, so please take a minute to go to my profile and vote in the poll (it's on top of my profile). Also, you don't have to worry that those versions will interfere with this one ;)_

_Now, enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 6:<strong>

**Shirts are overrated**

Izo looked into the street that led towards the palace. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Clear."

I followed him out of the alley we had met in. It was almost dark outside and there weren't many people around in the streets anymore at this time of the day. Without meeting anyone, we reached the wall that surrounded the palace.

"I think it must be somewhere around here," I said quietly. "Though, the thing about fire is that it doesn't only warm up the air, but also lights up the dark. So... we will probably attract some attention, especially inside the wall, if we aren't careful enough."

"Well, I wasn't planning on not being careful enough," Izo responded with a roll of his eyes.

"Good. We'll land on top of the wall for a moment, watch it, it's narrow and you can easily fall off," I warned him. Not giving him time to make another sarcastic comment, I continued, "From there we can orientate a bit better."

The crossdresser nodded. "Right. So, take me in your strong arms and let's go up." He laid one of his arms around my neck.

"You are aware of the fact that you are a bit touchy?" I asked with raised eyebrow.

Izo smiled. "Yes, but do you _mind_ it, is the question."

"A little." Wrapping my arm around him, I let my fire burn at the minimum that was necessary to get us on top of the wall.

We landed safely and I let go of my fellow thief. He didn't let go of me, but I was too busy trying not to fall off, that I didn't try to change it. Izo took a short look around and then nodded. "Let's meet up again in an hour at that tree?" He pointed at the tree that was barely visible in the quickly darkening sky.

I gave it a moment of thought. An hour wasn't very long for me, if I got into a serious conversation with the princess, but on the other hand, if that conversation died after five minutes, it would be a very long hour. So I nodded. "Sounds fair, but what do we do when one of us has to get away sooner or has to stay longer?"

He looked at me. "How much I hate to be dependable, I can't leave without you."

I smirked. That was true and it gave me some sort of feeling of security. At least he couldn't walk away from this deal between us. Because I still didn't fully trust him. "Alright, so we just wait at the tree until the other shows up. Got it." Before he knew what was going on, I grabbed him again and jumped down at a place I had seen no guard nearby.

"Okay, good luck," Izo whispered and he took off. I went right, towards the tower of which I was almost sure the princess' chamber was in. I saw a guard strolling along the tower wall and was able to hide behind a tree just in time. I waited about a minute, listening carefully at the footsteps of the man that slowly died away.

I jumped when I heard another sound from the other side of me, right beside my ear. A sigh escaped my lips when I realized it was a just a bird. Getting my heartbeat back under control, I cautiously looked around the three, just seeing the guard go around the corner of the palace. After that, I could walk to the tower without any problems.

Looking up, I was pretty sure I saw the same curtains in the window of the second floor as I had seen in Vivi's room. I let my hand slide along the stone of the palace wall, but it was not very climbable, so I took one last look around me to make sure no one was around, and then shot up as quickly as possible.

I put out my fire as soon as I had grabbed the edge of the balcony. It really was a pain that my powers stood out so much at night. Lifting myself up with my arms the last bit, I threw my body over the edge and landed with my feet on the balcony floor. I waited in silence for a moment, just listening if I heard any sound that wasn't supposed to be there. After not hearing anything unusual, I saw that the window towards the balcony was slightly opened. Just far enough to let a hand through.

My fingers slipped around the side of the window and pulled it further open, as slowly and quietly as possible.

Suddenly, the curtains were pushed aside, scaring me out of my concentration.

"You could just knock, you know," Vivi chuckled.

I let out the breath I had been holding. "I didn't know for sure this was your room! Besides, there could be some guard or servant inside!"

"Yeah, or I could just have been changing clothes when you walked in," the princess looked accusing at me.

I smirked. "Yeah, that was what I was trying to do, peek at you while you were undressing," I said, shaking my head. "If we would believe that Marco guy."

"Well… you never know," she stepped aside so I could come in. "I barely know you. He could be right."

I stopped and raised an eyebrow. "You really believe that?"

She looked down and I noticed she was already wearing her nightgown. One that left quite a lot to the imagination, but I couldn't help but wonder if that was all she wore, if she was naked underneath that. I tried to shake that thought off. No need to give her a reason to believe her servant.

She shrugged. "I don't think you're that kind of person. But like I said, I don't really know you, so…"

Well, that was true, I couldn't blame her for not fully trusting me. I was a thief after all. "You're right. But you don't need to worry, that's not why I'm here."

She pointed to the sofa in a gesture that I could sit there, while she said, "Then why exactly are you here? Just to listen to my ramblings? I mean, what is in it for you?"

"I'm… just here to talk," was my answer as I made myself comfortable. "You know… I don't really have people with whom I can just chat about things."

"You don't have friends?" she asked, pity evident in her voice. Well, I didn't need her pity.

So I shrugged. "Not really, no."

"How come?" The princess sat down as well.

"Just… I'm a thief, who wants to be friends with a thief?" I said, though of course that wasn't necessarily the reason.

She smiled. "Other thieves?"

"Thieves can't be trusted," I answered her.

"So I can't trust you?" She sounded a little disappointed.

"I'm an exception."

She smiled. "Yeah, sure. Then tell me something about yourself," she commanded. "You said your parents were dead, so where did you grow up?"

I thought about it for a moment. Why would I tell my whole life story to a stranger, a princess, no less. I didn't want to get the few people I cared about in trouble. But then why did it feel so natural and safe to talk to Vivi?

A sigh escaped my lips. "As a baby I was brought to a woman and her 'family', which is actually just a bunch of shady coffeemakers. Anyway, they raised me. I've known from the beginning that they weren't my real family, but they still didn't do too bad a job, I guess." I shrugged. "So that's where I grew up."

"Who brought you there?" Vivi asked. "And what's so shady about coffeemakers? Do they poison it?"

"Of course not! Coffee is just not the only thing they're dealing, that's all you need to know." I shouldn't get too specific, just in case she told someone. "And how should I know who brought me to them? I was just a baby, I don't really have memories from back then. It was probably someone my mother knew well."

The princess was quiet for a moment. "And… you've never had a friend?"

"Oh, I had one, once, when I was about ten. He died," I said bitterly. It was just one more reason to hate the government. It was their fault after all. They had murdered him.

"I-I'm sorry…" she apologized.

Shaking my head, I replied, "It's okay. It's been a few years already." I decided it was time to change the topic of our conversation. "So what about you? How did you grow up?"

It appeared she grew up very rich with all kinds of people who wanted to be her friend. Most of them weren't really the friends she hoped for, though. However, she did have nice guardians, apparently, and met a boy in her youth who was a good friend. But since the current prime-minister got power, her father had become more strict and she couldn't see him anymore, since he lived in the city and that was where she wasn't allowed to go, from that day on. She thought the minister had something to do with it, since it was too coincidental for her liking.

Our chat went on for what felt like hours, when I realized Izo was probably already waiting for me. I sprang up, a little too suddenly. "I gotta go."

She looked a little confused. "Already? Why?"

"I…'ve got an appointment… I agreed to meet someone, so I'm sorry I can't stay longer," I tried to sound as casual as possible while I walked towards the balcony again.

"Oh… okay, will you come again?" she asked, and added, "I need to know more about what the city really is like and you barely told me anything about that today, so…"

I smiled. "Of course I'll come again." Because, to be honest, I didn't want to leave yet, but I had to.

The corners of her mouth curved up again. "Thank you, Ace." Before I realized what was happening, she had wrapped her arms around me and pressed her body against mine.

I froze in place, not exactly sure what was happening and what I should do. Okay, she was hugging me. But I never got hugged by anyone else than Dadan. So why was she hugging me? Slowly, I placed my right arm around her shoulder. That was the closest thing to hugging anyone back I had ever done and would do. "It… it's okay…" I mumbled, not sure if that was the right thing to say at this moment, but it was the best I could come up with.

She finally let go of me and gave me a push towards the balcony. "Now go, don't let your date wait."

"He's not my date!" Why was everyone saying that? It took me a little too long to realize that she was just joking.

"Oh, it's a 'he'?" she asked with a teasing tone to her voice.

I decided to ignore it and walked on, into the open air of the balcony. I heard some yelling and when I looked down, I saw a lot more guards than before. Some were running around, some were standing still, obviously looking for something or someone. Well, shit. I just hoped they weren't looking for Izo or me. In any case, I wouldn't be able to just go down the way I came.

I turned to face the princess again. "I think I've got a problem."

She came standing next to me and looked down as well. "Yeah, it seems so." Suddenly, one of the guards turned his head upwards and Vivi pushed me back. "Watch out!" she whispered. "Someone might see you."

"Nothing wrong, Your Highness!" the guard shouted when he saw her. "We thought we saw something running around in the garden, but we're on it, don't worry!"

"Okay, thank you!" she shouted back. When she turned away from the edge, she sighed relieved. "I don't think he saw you. It would probably be better if you left through the palace, the normal way. The hallways are only dimly illuminated at this time of the day and there are more guards outside than inside, so it shouldn't provide too much trouble for you."

"You sure? There isn't someone waiting at your door?" I was a little sceptic.

She shook her head. "I forbade them to do that. Besides, if they were, someone would already have barged in because they heard voices."

She might have a point there. So I quickly, but quietly, walked to the door of her room and opened it carefully. No one to be seen. "Alright, well, see you later then."

She smiled and I left the room, silently closing the door behind me. The hallway was indeed barely illuminated, but that made it easier for guards to hide too. They only had to stand in the right shadow. So I was very wary when I walked away from the princess' chamber. However, it seemed that she had been right, because there was no one lurking in the shadows of at least the first part of the way.

I was already getting a little less focused when I noticed a slightly brighter light coming from around the corner. It wasn't just one candle that could give such a light. I pressed my back against the wall and carefully peeked around the corner to find the source of the light.

A few yards past it stood a table with two big candle stands on it. Behind it on a chair, his feet on the table, sat the pineapple-head servant, or guard, or whatever his job was. He was reading a book in the light of the extra candles.

Crap. I really needed to turn this corner if I wanted to get back. Though, maybe this wasn't impossible. After all, Marco seemed to be absorbed by his book and only his side of the hallway was extra illuminated. Even if the light spread through a much bigger part, it _could_ mean Marco wouldn't see me if he was focused on his readings. Well, it was pretty much the only option I had, so I would have to try it.

As quiet as possible, I turned the corner, staying close to the wall and walking slowly past the table, seeming to do fine. I had already set a few steps and – even though I was afraid to look at the pineapple directly – hadn't noticed any movement.

But then suddenly my body was slammed against the wall and my hands pushed together far above my head. "Thought you could sneak past me, yoi?" Marco's face was only about a feet away from mine, while his body made sure I couldn't move away from the wall.

I had to give it to the guy, he was fast. I hadn't even seen him move! "I… maybe?" He was strong too, I really couldn't move away, which surprised me a bit. Shouldn't the sea stone of his 'necklace' weaken his normal strength as well? But he held both my wrists with one hand too!

"I don't let intruders pass," Marco made clear. "What are you doing here?"

"Just walking around, enjoying the beautiful interior," I tried casually.

Marco cocked his head slightly, seeming to realize something. "You were with Vivi, yoi. You were the guy who was hiding in her closet two days ago."

So he had known _exactly_ where I was that time. "And what if I am?" It wasn't like I was afraid of the man who had pressed me against the wall. Not at all. If I wanted, I could be out of here within a second. Still, my heart seemed to disagree by beating way faster than necessary. I was sure the guy holding my wrists could feel it too.

Marco kept looking into my eyes. "What are your intentions with the princess?"

"I don't have intentions," I said, I would be shrugging if my hands weren't caught above my head. "But I'm certainly not after her virginity. I'm not a pervert like you."

The blond raised his eyebrows. "Oh really now? Then why are you walking around bare-chested?"

"Because shirts are overrated." Yeah, when the sun was down, I didn't really need to protect my skin from it anymore. And my devil fruit powers made sure I never had to be cold, so why wear a shirt?

Then I realized I hadn't tried _very_ hard to get away from this man, while he was holding me pressed against the wall for more than a whole minute already. And his closeness made me slightly uncomfortable, maybe that was why my heart was beating so fast. Marco began to speak again, while I let the fire in my wrists flare up.

"Aren't you co–" His eyes widened and after another moment he pulled back his hand and created a small distance between us. "You're Firefist Ace!" he said surprised, casting a look at the slightly red palm of his hand.

I cocked my head and even though I had the opportunity to run away from him, his way of acting had caught my interest. "And _you _used to be able to handle fire." It had taken him too long to withdraw his hand, as if he wasn't afraid the fire would hurt him. "You're a logia type then?"

"That's none of your business, yoi," Marco answered. However, his words had lost a little of their coldness and he looked kind of longingly at my hands as the flames slowly died.

"Ah come on, tell me," I tried again. "Which fruit did you eat? Obviously not the _mera mera no mi_, since that's mine, but at least it was a logia, right?"

"No." Marco's look hardened again. "As I said, it's not of your concern."

"Okay… then tell me why you gave it up. Does this job pay you _that_ well?" It was something that bothered me a bit.

Marco frowned and grabbed my hand. I was about to get it back by turning it into fire again, but it didn't work and suddenly my energy seemed to fade away slightly. Marco had placed my hand in the crook of his neck, pressed against the sea stone ring that kept, now both, our powers in check. "Listen _Ace_, I'm giving you an opportunity to leave. Take it, instead of prying into my life."

"I just don't get it, that's all," I explained.

"My choices are my choices and I don't regret them. That's all you need to know." Marco let go of me. "Now go. And you'd do well not to come back again."

I did a few steps towards the exit. "I'll betcha I'll come back," I said smirking. Then I started to walk faster away from Marco, but cast one more look over my shoulders. "See ya!"

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><p><em>TBC~<em>

_Please leave a review and vote on my poll :)_


	7. A friend like me

_I'm sorry it took so long again! My Halloween fic got a little out of hand and wasn't nearly finished by Halloween. I'm a little ashamed, since today, this story is exactly a year old, but I have only uploaded 7 chapters :( but I'll try to do better in the future!_

_Anyway, thanks to Aerle and Thérèse for betaing!_

_I hope you enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: A friend like me<strong>

I cursed when I saw the guard on the inside of the gates that led towards the gardens. Last time there had only been someone outside. Besides, the doors were closed now. That could also be a slight problem. Especially if they were locked.

Hidden behind a pillar, I thought of the best way to get through the gates while drawing as little attention as possible. I could of course set something on fire again, but it would get a little suspicious, especially when it was inside the palace. They would know someone was there and it wouldn't be hard to guess it was me. If Marco didn't tell the others to begin with, but I would have to take that chance.

I was startled from my thoughts by a loud banging on the gate doors from outside. To my surprise, the doors were opened and three more guards walked in. "I'm afraid we've lost them. We've searched the whole gardens, but we can't find them anymore. If they were even here in the first place."

"I told you, I'm sure I saw someone!" one of the other guards argued. "But they're probably gone now."

"Yeah, maybe you could stand outside as well, just in case they're still somewhere, but I think we won't be necessary anymore," his colleague added.

The guard that had been standing inside nodded and accompanied the one on the outside, closing the gates again, while the others went into the palace and out of sight. The door closed again, before I could take the opportunity to slip through it. Well, it wouldn't have worked anyway, with the two men outside, but it was still a pity I couldn't use the fact that it was open any longer.

Looking around, I noticed a few small windows far above me, not too far next to the giant doors. I couldn't use them before, but now that there was no one guarding the inside of the gate, I could just use my devil fruit abilities to reach that height.

I landed inside the glassless window without any problems and got a good overview of the gardens. There were two guards outside the gates, as I expected, and two more walking along the wall that surrounded the gardens. I suspected there was another one walking around the palace as well, just like when I got here, but I couldn't see him from where I was.

I glanced at the tree where I had agreed to meet Izo, but didn't see him there. Or was it the other tree? I wasn't sure anymore, but the other tree that could possibly be the one didn't show any Izo either. So where the hell was he? Well, maybe he had hidden with all the commotion. That was a plausible option. I decided to just go for the first tree that I thought was the right one.

But how did I get there without being seen? The two men guarding the wall were pretty far away, so I didn't worry too much about them, but the two at the gates were much closer. I had to distract them, if I wanted to get down without them noticing me. But if I used my fire, they could trace it back to me. On the other hand, I didn't really have anything with me that I could throw either, except for my dagger, but I was not going to lose that for something like this.

I looked over my shoulder, into the palace, almost losing my balance. Maybe I could take something from the immense building to distract them. I was about to jump back down, when I noticed someone walking into the hall. Again, I almost fell down, but I could grab the edge of the window just in time. The man stood still for a moment, looking around, but – to my relief – not looking up. After he didn't see anything unusual, he shrugged and ascended the stairs towards the direction I had come from, a while ago.

When he was out of sight, I let out a deep breath and got down to the floor again. I had already seen a small vase standing in a fake window in one of the walls and snatched it away before someone could see me. Within a few seconds I was back in the windowsill, and ready to throw the richly decorated vase. My tongue stuck a bit out of my mouth when I was aiming for the lower palace wall on the other side of the gates, because it would make more sound if it hit stone than when it only hit grass.

With a loud crash, the vase broke into a thousand pieces, right at the spot where I'd wanted it. I gave myself a short second to be proud of my perfect aim, before I got into action. The guards hurried towards the broken clay – or maybe it was made of something else, but what did I know – and I could safely land on the grassy ground a few yards left of the gates. Soon, I reached the tree and no one had even seen me – the fools.

Pressing my back against the bark of the tree, I looked carefully around. Now where the hell could Izo be?

"That was about time!" a voice hissed from above me. Looking up, I saw my fellow thief had climbed into the tree. "I almost got caught because you are so late."

"You almost got caught because you weren't careful enough," I threw back.

Izo let himself down onto the ground. "You have a hard time sticking to agreements, don't you?" He studied his nails for a bit and then gave me an even more disappointed look. "My nails are ruined."

I rolled my eyes. "I just lost track of time, I'm sorry. Now, let's get out of here before anyone sees us."

* * *

><p>The next day, I strolled through the city on my own. Izo and I had agreed to lay low for a few days, because the guards would be more on guard the coming time. After all, even though Izo hadn't stolen anything – or so he said – we <em>had<em> caused a bit of an uproar. At least the guards knew that someone had been there, and that wasn't a positive development.

I soon found myself walking through the darker part of the city – and with that I didn't mean there was little light. On the surface, there was just a normal market, but everyone who had something to do with the underworld knew the deals that were made beneath that surface were anything but legal. If you were looking for someone that could get rid of your bastard of a neighbor, this was the place to go. Or if you wanted to change something obviously stolen into money, there were more than a few willing marketers to buy your ware on this market. And of course there was the occasional prostitute, trying to lure customers as well.

The one thing you didn't have to try on this market, however, was stealing. You'd definitely lose your hand within a second. At least.

I liked to come here, even when I wasn't looking for something specific. 'Good' citizens didn't come here very often and even a big part of the city guard seemed to avoid this place most of the time. Only the stronger ones came by every now and then to check upon this area. So, with mostly criminals here, I could just relax and not have to watch my back constantly. People here didn't care for who I was. Or at least not for the fact that I was 'Fire-fist'. That I was the son of a demon was a whole other story. But they didn't know that, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Suddenly I saw a flash of purple and when I looked better, I spotted Izo in the crowd. I tried to get his attention, but he was too far away. I made my way through the crowd of people, but it wasn't easy, as there were a lot of them at the moment. I had almost reached him when the people started to move in panic, after someone had shouted, "Cop!"

The crowd quickly moved to all directions and within a few seconds, half of the street was empty. The people had disappeared as if the ground had just swallowed them. I too pulled my hood over my head again and walked towards a market stand, pretending to be very interested in the clothes they sold. A lot of us were wanted, after all.

However, when I cast a look over my shoulder to see if Izo had gotten away, I saw to my surprise that he was still walking in the middle of the road, as one of the very, _very_ few people. And he was casually walking in the direction of the man wearing a city guard uniform.

Why? Was he out of his mind? Or… maybe he didn't have a price on his head? But the way he had acted, the way he had just cold-bloodedly shot those guards a few days ago, I couldn't imagine that he _wasn't_ wanted. I had thought his bounty would be at least as high as mine.

Cautiously, I followed him from the side of the road, curious of what he was doing.

He soon reached the grumpy looking guard, a captain nonetheless. "Hey Smokey."

Wait, Izo _knew_ the guard? He knew a captain of the city guard?!

Both men had stopped walking and looked at each other. "Izo," the white haired man acknowledged him. "What are you doing here?"

"Why, I'm just taking a walk," the cross dresser answered innocently. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Patrolling," the guard said curtly. "You haven't done anything… illegal lately, have you?"

"I wouldn't dare!" Izo said on a quasi-offended tone.

"Show me what's in the bag," the captain ordered.

Izo smiled at him. "I'd rather not."

The man in uniform – even if his jacket was casually hanging open – waited impatiently.

"Alright, alright, if you must." The thief opened the bag that had been draped over his shoulder. The guard looked inside the bag and raised his eyebrows as he reached into it.

I almost choked when he took out the candle stand from the palace. What was that idiot doing?! Why did he even still have that?

The white haired man studied the object in his hands. "Izo, care to explain why you are carrying a golden candle stand around?"

"I got it from a friend," he said in all honesty.

Great, so Izo was friends with a cop and was now going to tell him all about me?

"Since when do you have friends who can afford this kind of thing?"

Izo chuckled. "I never said my _friend_ didn't do anything illegal."

I knew this should be my cue to walk away and hide, before either of them noticed me, but my curiosity nailed me to the ground. Why was my partner – or that was what I had thought he was – just spilling everything? Why didn't he just shoot the captain and ran for it? I knew he didn't have any problems with shooting people.

"Selling stolen ware is a crime too, and you know that perfectly well," the guard spoke.

Izo gave him a look that I'd almost call seductive. "So what are you going to do now? Are you going to arrest me? Lock me up? _Handcuff_ me?"

The guard looked into his eyes for a moment. "Maybe I will. Now, tell me, who stole it and from whom?"

The cross dresser chuckled. "You shall have to interrogate me to get any of that information."

The captain looked very displeased with Izo, but didn't do anything, except burning holes into the thief with his eyes.

"Oh, look at you! You want to arrest me so badly, and yet you know you can't." Izo leaned in to whisper something into the man's ear, but I couldn't make out any words.

I turned around and walked away. I didn't know what kind of relationship those two had, but it was obviously one that a guard and a thief weren't supposed to have. One that withheld the captain from arresting Izo, apparently. But that would mean it had to be a really close relationship, right? Or there had to be another reason why he couldn't arrest him, but I really couldn't think of anything that could possibly be a reason.

By the time I had reached my tower, I had come to the conclusion that Izo was either good friends with the guard or they were lovers. Which would be fine by me, if it weren't for the fact that it was a fucking _city guard_. I was so angry. I had just been starting to trust Izo, liking him, seeing him as a possible future friend. But it appeared I was wrong.

Stamping a little more than necessary, I walked up the stairs, to the floor I lived on. I let out a frustrated groan. I should have known he wasn't to be trusted. Izo was probably even working for the government. He was somehow trying to set me up. I had no idea what the hell his plan was, but I was not going to fall for it anymore.

"Wow, easy buddy," Thatch floated towards me. "What's wrong?"

"Go away." I tried to push him aside, but my hand went right through his body. Weird. Though Thatch did get the hint and stepped aside. "I completely misjudged him," I said, not necessarily to Thatch, but it was nice I had someone else who'd listen to me, beside myself.

"Who?" the genie asked.

"Who do you think?" I plumped down into one of the chairs. "That fucking transvestite! He's teaming up with a cop! Or.. already worked together with him. Or at least is friends or something with a cop. I should have known I couldn't trust him."

"What, Izo?" Thatch sounded disbelieving.

"Yeah, if that's even his real name." I crossed my arms. "I don't know what he was planning, but I now know I can't trust him."

"Why? Friends with a cop, you say? I can't imagine that!"

"Friends, lovers, whatever. I don't know exactly, but I don't think I want to know either." I stared out of the window. "Fact is that they acted way more friendly than a guard and a thief should. Especially since the guy found out Izo was still carrying that golden candle stand I brought him the first time I went to the palace. He didn't do anything about it! Izo said something like the guy cared too much for him to arrest him, or something."

"Well, that doesn't sound like they're working together… not necessarily at least." Thatch seemed to pace up and down behind me, thinking about it. "Izo is not the kind of person who'd work together with the government or anyone involved with it! At least, he didn't came across like such a person, not even when you were away that time I was a dog."

"Well, I saw what I saw and I heard what I heard. I'm not wrong." I shook my head. "I already knew he was an actor, I could have known this all was just an act of him."

"I'm sure he has a logical explanation for it."

"Why? Why are you defending him?" I asked, turning my head towards my genie.

"I just don't believe he'd do that, that's all." Thatch said, shrugging.

"You weren't there, you didn't see them together." I looked in front of me again. I just should have known I couldn't trust anybody. The only one who I had been able to fully trust in my life was Sabo, who was dead now. Even Dadan I didn't trust a hundred percent. She was sweet in her own way and she did seem to care for me, but I wasn't completely sure she wouldn't sell me over for enough money. So I shouldn't have given Izo the benefit of the doubt.

I got a little sad, thinking of Sabo, however. He had been such a good friend. Well, the only _real _friend I'd ever had. His death might have been almost a decade ago already, but I still missed him sometimes. I sighed. "You know, I just wish I still had a real friend, like Sabo. Someone who really cared for me and would still love me even if they did know who my father was, someone who didn't even care about that, because I am not my fucking father!" I shook my head. "Not that I'm ever going to tell anyone that again, let alone Izo. I'll just probably have to accept I will never find anyone like –"

"Ace," Thatch interrupted me. "You know I can't change someone's heart."

Well, I didn't ask for that, did I? I was a little confused.

"But I _can_ grant you that wish." He placed his hand on my shoulder.

Even more confused I looked at him, immediately noticing something different, but not realizing what it was. "Wait, wait. I didn't mean – "

"Your wish was very specific. You wanted a friend," he started to count on his fingers. "who cared for you, knew about your father, but didn't care about that…"

"It wasn't a wish! Not an official one, at least," I tried to bring into it.

"A wish is a wish," Thatch said, holding up a finger to show he didn't want to be contradicted. "No take-backs." He spread his arms. "Combining all your requirements, I found a perfect solution to grant your wish!"

"You… aren't see-through anymore," I finally noted what was different.

"That's because _I'm_ the friend you wished for. The _real_ friend. Not a see-through one." He placed his arm around my shoulder, grinning broadly. "Come on, you ain't never had a friend like me!"

I pushed him away a little to look at him, not sure what to think. "I… But you barely know me… I can't just accept… It was not even an official…" I sighed. "I fucked up my second wish, didn't I?"

Thatch was silent for a moment, but then looked hurt. "That's a mean thing to say."

* * *

><p><em>TBC~<em>

_(Don't worry about the Izo/Smoker part. It won't get any bigger than this.)_

_Please leave a review with your thoughts!_


	8. We're not friends

_The new chapter ladies and gentlemen :) Please let me know what you think about it (theories and everything are always welcome too :P)_

_Beta'd by Aerle and Thérèse, thank you!_

_Please enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: We're not friends<strong>

I stared out of the window, still not sure what to do with operation Princess. It was already two days after I'd seen Izo talk with that guard, but it still bothered me. Of course; I found out I couldn't trust him. But that I didn't want to work with him anymore, didn't mean I couldn't keep seeing Vivi. After all, I promised to visit her again and she couldn't help it that Izo was a betrayer. I just didn't have to take Izo with me anymore.

And then there was this other thing. Well, person, actually. I didn't know why, but I kept thinking about that Marco guy. There was an air of mystery around him, that interested me, I guessed. I looked at Thatch, who was reading a book. "Hey, Thatch, want to solve a question?"

He looked up. "Sure, what is it?"

"Can you come up with a devil fruit that can handle fire?" I asked. I hadn't told him about Marco yet, somehow it felt like my little secret that no one needed to know of. Well, at least the second time I saw him, which was the first time he really saw _me_. I had told Izo and Thatch that there had been someone who had almost caught me the first time, but nothing specific. I didn't think I even mentioned his name.

Thatch shrugged. "Sure, someone with a body of water or sand…"

"No, not a Logia type," I added. "Besides, we already know someone with sand abilities."

"Well, at least you know you shouldn't pick a fight with him," Thatch joked.

No shit, I wasn't planning on fighting the prime minister any time soon. Unless he wanted his chairs back, because he _would_ have to fight me for them.

"But it must be something you don't know yet?" Thatch continued. I nodded and Thatch seemed to think harder. "But no Logia you say? Hmmm… I think I've heard of the Atsu Atsu no Mi once, which can control heat, so the one who uses that would probably be immune to flames."

"Yeah, that could be it. I can't immediately think of another Paramecia that could stand fire, can you?" I smiled. That was a really good suggestion!

"Well, I think you're overestimating yourself a bit. I can't think of one that could handle stand fire _directly_, but that doesn't mean that no one with such power can win in a fight with you." Thatch raised his eyebrows a little amused. "I have known people with Paramecia powers who could have defeated you with one finger."

I snorted. "Yeah, sure! Give me an example of someone then."

Thatch shook his head. "The man I had in mind isn't alive anymore."

"Easy enough for you to talk then, if he can't prove it anymore." I rolled my eyes. Really, what could they have done to me anyway? "But it must be the Atsu Atsu no Mi then… I mean, Zoans are pretty much ruled out."

"Not necessarily," Thatch brought in.

I looked at him curiously. "Like what? Even animals with a thick skin can be roasted." Then I thought of something. "Though… maybe some reptiles with scales could hold for a few seconds. Or fish, because they're wet? But who the hell eats a fish fruit in the desert?"

"That was not really what I meant, though," Thatch said and looked into my eyes. "Ever heard of Mythical Zoan fruits?"

My eyes widened as the first option of such a fruit went through my mind. "That's it! That's so awesome, though! But I can imagine why the government would want to put a ring on _that_." I jumped up. "I gotta go."

"What?! Where are you going?" Thatch asked confused.

"To the palace," I said as I put on my boots and ran towards the stairs.

"Wait, why? Take me with you!" the genie tried.

"Sorry, can't, it's too dangerous!" I shouted back, already being halfway down the stairs. I jumped down the last stairs, not having the patience to wait any longer, and started running.

* * *

><p>It was only a few minutes later that I sat on top of the wall surrounding the royal gardens, again. I took a moment to overthink my actions. Maybe I had been a little too enthusiastic. I didn't even know whether Marco worked today or where to find him. And with all the guards around, I couldn't just run around through the palace until I found him either.<p>

So there was actually only one safe option left. I quickly scanned the gardens, saw only a few guards, but noted that they hadn't seen me. I jumped and landed right behind a nearby tree. It being the third time I came here already, I began to know my way around. Swiftly I moved from tree to tree, until I was close to the palace tower where Vivi's chamber was. When the coast was clear, I jumped up and landed a few yards higher, on her balcony.

I sighed disappointed when I saw that her windows were closed, as were her curtains. Or… not completely. When I looked closer, I saw that the glass doors were slightly ajar and there was a gap between the curtains as well, probably to let the air flow through the room. I tried my best to peek through that small opening, but I could only see a really tiny part of the room, which didn't tell me anything about if anyone was inside, and if yes, who, since I only saw an empty spot.

I kept staring, thinking of what my options were. I could take the risk and break in, but that wouldn't do if there was someone else inside the room than the ones who knew me. I flinched when suddenly someone stepped into my view, but sighed when I realized it was just the person I was looking for. However, that didn't mean I could just barge in. I didn't know who else could be in the room, after all.

I focused on my forefinger, letting the tip heat up and burst into flames. Carefully I sent the flames through the opening between the glass doors, and formed them into the words 'are you alone?'. There were times when I was glad I had learned how to write when I was a kid.

Only a few seconds later, the curtains were pushed aside and the door was opened. Marco folded his arms in front of his chest. "You've got a lot of nerve, coming here again, yoi."

I smirked and stepped inside. "Are you alone? Where's Vivi?"

"I was about to ask _you_ that." Marco placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me from walking further into the palace, making my heart skip a beat. Which was kind of weird, since it didn't really surprise me _that_ much.

I pushed the hand off my shoulder, but the touch made me feel weird in my stomach, and for some reason it took a little longer to break the contact than was strictly necessary. "I don't know," I answered quickly, to get rid of the weird feeling. "I haven't seen her in days."

"But you're here now," Marco stated. "So you had promised to meet her, yoi?"

I shook my head and sat down on the princess' bed. "I came for you."

Marco stared at me, his expression unreadable. "For me?"

"Yeah, I've been thinking," I smiled excitedly. "And I've got a pretty good idea of what your devil fruit is."

"Really now?" Marco said, still not seeming very surprised nor impressed.

"Yes, my guess is that you've eaten a devil fruit from the Mythical Zoan type." That was the moment when he raised his eyebrow just the tiniest bit and my smile turned into a wide grin. "I knew it! You are a dragon!"

An amused smile formed itself on Marco's lips, but then he began to chuckle. The chuckling continued until the man was actually laughing.

I knew he was probably laughing at me, that I had said something incredibly stupid, but I couldn't help but like the sound of it. It was also the first time I had really seen Marco display any real form of emotion. Somehow it made him look more human.

When Marco was finished laughing, he shook his head. "I was not a dragon."

I huffed. "Then it's the heat controlling fruit."

To my surprise, Marco sat down next to me on Vivi's bed. "Wrong again." His face went back to its normal, emotionless expression. "But you seriously came here to accuse me of being a dragon?"

"I…" I shrugged. "It wasn't a very weird guess, you know. A dragon can handle fire and it's not a logia type." Somehow, the fact that he was now sitting next to me made me a little nervous. He was being way too friendly for someone who worked in the palace. "But you could just _tell_ me what powers you used to have."

"It doesn't matter, yoi." Marco lay down on the bed, with his hands underneath his head. "I can't use them anymore so why bother talking about it?"

"Because I'm curious," I said honestly. There wasn't really a good reason why he should tell me, but I felt like I really needed to know.

"You know I could just catch you and lock you up, right? Like I'm supposed to do with the likes of you," Marco said, but didn't make any attempt to act upon his words.

"And yet you don't." I lay down as well, on my side, so that I could look at Marco, who stared at the ceiling himself. "I wonder why."

A quiet sigh escaped Marco's lips. "Vivi could use a friend like you. I'm not very fond of the way they treat her, wanting us to keep her inside the palace at all costs." He turned his head to look at me. "And I'm beginning to think I might have been wrong to think you're here to get into her bed." He eyed the mattress on which he was laying, probably realizing it was the very same bed he was talking about. "Well… you know what I mean, yoi."

I huffed again. It was about time he realized that. "I'm glad you've come to your senses, but what made you change your mind?"

The corner of Marco's mouth curled up the slightest bit. "Just a feeling that she isn't really your… type."

I raised my eyebrows. "What the hell do you know about my type?"

Turning his head back to look at the ceiling again, Marco said, "You tell me, why is it that you don't like her?"

I frowned. "I do like her, just not like that. Because… just because. I don't feel attracted to her. Do I have to have a reason for not liking everyone?" I was really confused by the question and it made me slightly nervous.

"So there have been people you liked like that? Or… are you already in a relationship with someone?" Marco asked.

"No!" I didn't really get why he was asking all these questions. "No, I don't have a girlfriend. But that doesn't mean I've never liked anyone… there are enough pretty girls."

"I didn't ask if there were pretty girls, yoi. I think Vivi is pretty as well, don't you?" Marco said, looking slightly amused. "There is a difference between thinking someone is pretty and being attracted to that person."

Well, he did have a point. I had seen a few girls of which I thought they were really good looking but… I had never been in love with any of them, or even had a crush on them. "Yeah, so? What does this have to do with you knowing that Vivi isn't my type?" I felt a little as if I was being interrogated or something, but I didn't know with what purpose.

Marco sighed. "Nothing. I'm probably not the person to talk to you about this."

"What even is '_this'_?" I said a little paranoia.

"Would you look at that, Carue," Vivi's voice interrupted them. "Who would have thought I'd find two men together in my bed one day?"

I looked up lazily, my mind still too focused on what the hell Marco was aiming at, but the blond stood up immediately, straightening his uniform. "Princess Vivi, I'm sorry, I was looking for you when I found him."

The princess walked into the room, followed by her pet duck, and giggled. "Yes, that sounds like a good reason to lay down with him." The duck quacked as if to agree with her that it was indeed not a reason at all.

Did I imagine it, or did I see just the tiniest blush covering Marco's cheeks? However, Vivi didn't seem to want to put him in the awkward situation of explaining this, because she continued quickly. "But I'm happy to see you're friends. That was not something I expected."

"We're not friends," Marco and I said in union.

He continued, "I realized he might not be such a bad person after all, and I thought you could use some company. Just… let's keep this our secret, okay?" He walked towards the exit of the room. "I'll leave you two alone now." Before he reached the door, however, he turned around. "Oh yeah, Ace," he looked straight into my eyes, making my heart skip a beat. "If I find out you betrayed my trust, you will have to bear the consequences, yoi."

* * *

><p>I'd had a pleasant conversation with Vivi, after Marco had left, in which I had explained different aspects of living as a thief in the city. It seemed to intrigue her, so I was happy to tell her whatever she wanted. Except for where I lived, of course. I wouldn't make it too easy for the government, even if I trusted Vivi. She was just a little naïve, so you never knew when someone was clever enough to get the information out of her.<p>

But the short conversation I had had with Marco wouldn't leave me alone. I didn't understand at all what he had been talking about. He suddenly knew Vivi wasn't my type? But he wasn't the one to talk with me about that? It made me incredibly confused and thinking about the conversation made my heart beat a little faster, though I wasn't sure if that was because of the topic of the conversation or the person bringing it up.

I walked into my tower, but after a few steps I felt something was wrong. It was too quiet. It had never been so quiet since I had stolen Thatch's lamp. I stood at the bottom of the stairs, listening carefully. No sound. No singing, no sounds of Thatch being busy cooking – something he did a lot – no genie talking to himself, nothing. Of course Thatch could just be reading a book or something, but the feeling in my gut told me that wasn't the case. Somehow Thatch was noisy in _everything_ he did. But right now, the silence was deafening.

My heart jumped when I did hear a sound. The sound of shoe heels clicking on the stone floor. Those were definitely not Thatch's steps – even when he made the effort of walking instead of floating. So there was an intruder.

I let my feet turn into fire so that I could ascent the stairs without the risk that my feet would make a sound. I was on the third floor when the sound suddenly stopped. I held my breath and slowed down. Cautiously I went up the last stairs.

A shot sounded and before I knew it, a bullet went through my chest. Without a second thought I sent a fire fist in the direction the shot had come from.

A flash of purple just avoided my fire. "Oh, it's you," Izo said as he checked a strand of hair to see if it had burned.

"What the fuck?! Of course it's me! I live here!" I shouted at him.

"It could have been an uninvited guest," Izo shrugged as he put his gun away.

"Like you?" I said angrily. "What the hell are you doing here?!" I checked my chest, but noted there was no pain and no hole. So Izo had been bluffing about the seastone bullets. Good to know.

"Why, I came to visit you," Izo sat down on one of my chairs as if he owned the place.

"Get. Off. My chair." I was furious. How dared he come to my home as if everything was just fine.

Izo raised an eyebrow. "Why? You've got two of them. Or… have you brought someone?"

"I said _get off my chair_." I let my eyes wander around. Where the hell was Thatch? Had Izo stolen the lamp? Only after a second or two I saw an unfamiliar, small cabinet standing in the corner of the room. That had to be the genie's doing.

Meanwhile Izo had stood up, his hands in the air as if to surrender. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was your sacred chair."

"You can stop your dumb act," I warned him. Like I was still going to fall for that. "I know what kind of game you're playing."

Izo seemed to be thinking very hard, but then barely visibly shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't follow you there." His eyes begged for an explanation. "What are you talking about?"

"I _know_ you work with the government. I saw you being all friendly with that city guard!" I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "So you'd better get the hell out of here and never show your face to me again."

"Ace!" Izo almost looked offended. But I already knew he was a great actor, so there was no way I was going to fall for that. "How dare you accuse me of working together with the government? And you really need to give me more to go on, because I still don't know where you got that silly idea from."

"What was it… two, three days ago? You were talking to that captain in the black market area. You showed him that candle stand I gave you," I clarified. I didn't really know why I gave him a chance to explain, instead of kicking him out, but maybe I subconsciously hoped he wasn't that bad after all. Suddenly I realized something. "How did you even know where I live?"

"I followed you one time, to see where you lived." Izo sighed. "But I'm guessing you saw me with Smoker."

"I believe you called him Smokey."

Izo nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's my sort of nickname for him."

I closed my eyes. So I was right not to trust him. You don't give nicknames to people you barely know. "Then I know enough. Get out."

"No, this is a misunderstanding. We're not friends and _definitely_ not working together." Izo placed a hand on my shoulder and I immediately shot him a deadly look, which made him withdraw his hand. "Will you please let me explain?"

"You literally said he couldn't arrest you because he cared too much for you." Seriously, how was he going to explain that if they weren't at least friends?

"No, no, no, I didn't say that." Izo chuckled. "Though I like that idea." When he saw my raised eyebrow, he quickly continued. "Okay, I have a bit of a history with Smoker, but that's really not important. And I'm pretty sure he hates my guts sometimes."

"If he really hates you so much, he could have just arrested you and locked you up, right? Or beat you to death or something," I suggested. I'd never met a guard who wouldn't do that to a criminal if he had the opportunity.

"Smoker isn't like that!" Izo defended his – by lack of proof of the opposite – friend. "Anyway, it's a bit difficult to explain, but there is some sort of agreement between the government and me. And that's the reason that, as long as I don't do anything too criminal, like committing murder or something, they cannot arrest me. If they were to break that agreement, well, you could say all hell would break loose."

I looked at him as if he was stupid. Really, did he expect me to believe such a vague story? "What kind of agreement is that? And why should the government make deals with a thief?"

"That's a long and difficult story. One I would rather not tell, actually. But believe me when I say I feel a passionate hatred towards the government and I would never _ever _do anything that could work in their benefit."

"You did shoot those two palace guards, though. Seems like murder to me. Or at least an attempt at," I pointed out. After all, he'd said that that could be a reason to get arrested.

"That was self-defense. Besides, nobody knows it was me who shot them. Unless you told the cops." Izo looked at me as if suddenly _I_ was the one who was working together with the government.

"Don't give me that look. I couldn't even get close to a guard without having one chasing me. _I_ can't get into friendly conversations with them." I didn't know whether I should believe Izo's stories. On the one hand, I didn't trust him _at all_, but on the other hand, if I trusted Thatch, I should trust Izo too. After all, Thatch had made sure my home would be protected from the government. So the fact that Izo was standing here now should be prove that he wasn't working for the government.

I sighed and tried to relax my body a bit, as it was still in defense mode. "Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

"I am delighted to hear that." Izo smiled broadly. "So can I sit on your sacred chair now?"

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><p><em>TBC~<em>

_Please leave a review with your thoughts! (Please?)_


	9. You really have trust issues

_Woops, it has been more than 3 months :( did you assume I was dead yet? well, it was a writers block... but I'm back! with a new, but not so long chapter. Next one will probably take a while again though, because there are a lot of fan projects going on on tumblr this summer, in which I'm participating. But I'll try to have the next chapter up in September at last!  
><em>

_Anyway, enjoy~!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: You really have trust issues<strong>

After promising Izo I would pay him a visit in two days, I had managed to get him out of my home. It wasn't that I didn't like his company, but I needed some time alone. Or as alone as I could get. I was also worried about Thatch.

When I was sure Izo had left the building, I sat down. "Thatch?"

The upper drawer of the cabinet flew open, and Thatch stuck his head out of it. I didn't ask how he fitted in such a small place, because the answer would probably be 'because he was a genie'. After having looked around, he slowly got his whole body out of the drawer.

"Is the coast clear?"

"Yeah, he's gone," I answered, but then I looked slightly concerned at him. "You know where the lamp is?"

The upper drawer closed again and the bottom one flew open, showing the bronze oil lamp. "You didn't think I'd let myself be stolen that easily, did you?"

A relieved sigh escaped my lips. Izo had gotten the benefit of the doubt, but I was far from trusting him completely. "You could have been too late to prevent it. I don't know how soon you noticed him."

Thatch snorted. "No," he said almost offended. "I'm faster than Izo."

I chuckled. "That's good to know."

"But I _was_ right about him not being a betrayer," Thatch pointed out as he sat down in the other chair.

"He still has to prove himself."

Thatch shook his head. "You really have trust issues, you know that?"

"Maybe you have issues trusting people too soon," I looked skeptically at him. "Besides, if you have so much trust in Izo, why did you hide?"

Thatch looked away and shrugged. "I didn't know who was coming up the stairs when I heard footsteps, did I? So I did the first thing that came to mind, which was hiding." He looked at me again. "Besides, you wouldn't hear the end of it if Izo found another man in your home."

My lips formed themselves into a smile. "That's absolutely true."

* * *

><p>Izo pushed a cup of damping tea into my hands, which I couldn't refuse, since I had promised to stay for tea the last time I was at his place.<p>

"So I have mapped out the gardens in my mind, with where all the guards are and where the possible entries to the palace are," Izo started to tell. "I haven't had a chance yet to actually get inside the palace. So the plan is as follows: on the east side of the palace is a window, a little too high to climb through on my own, but together it shouldn't be a problem. The only guard that could possibly see us is the one patrolling along the surrounding wall. If we can get in without being seen, that would save us a lot of trouble."

"Sure," I said, but to be honest, I wouldn't really mind it if I was seen. At least not if it was by Marco. I was even almost looking forward to it. He still owed me an explanation about our last conversation.

"If you have any information about guards on the inside in that area, it would be really nice if you could tell me about it now," Izo said, with a look on his face as if he thought I was keeping something from him. Did my face give something away?

"I don't. I mean, I'm not even sure which part you're referring to," I told him. "The palace is big, you know, and so is the east side of it. I only know last time there was a guard inside the main back entrance, but he went outside as soon as the other guards thought _you_ were gone." I looked accusingly at him, just to show him that if anyone wasn't to be trusted, it was him. "The first time I went to the palace, there was only one guard at that entrance to begin with, but then the gates were open as well. I think they close them at night."

"Could be." Izo sipped from his tea, seeming to think about something. "So you haven't seen any other guards inside the palace at all?"

I shrugged. "Of course, I've seen a few guards that walked around in the palace, but they didn't seem to be stuck at a certain place like the east part or something." I smiled barely visibly. "And there's Vivi's personal guard dog, or something, I don't know exactly what he is. But we don't have to fear him. Or at least _I _don't have to fear him. He's an okay guy, he knows Vivi and I are just friends now, so he tolerates me."

Izo raised his eyebrows and looked at me to see if I was serious. "You've got to be kidding, right? Does he know who you are?"

"Yeah, we've even talked a few times already."

"Ace!" Izo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Are you really that naive? There's no way a guard will let Fire Fist Ace walk around freely through the palace! It has to be some kind of trap."

"No!" I placed my empty tea mug on the floor and rose to my feet. "You don't know him! He's a really nice guy, and he understands that Vivi needs someone to talk to! He sure is a much nicer guy than you!"

Izo raised his eyebrows, but instead of the quasi-offended face I was expecting, he cocked his head and looked curiously at me. "Portgas D. Ace, are you crushing on that guard?"

That question completely caught me off guard and I felt my cheeks become hot. "What? No! Of course not! The hell, man?"

Izo chuckled. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course I am! Seriously…" I tried to fight the blush of my face. Izo shouldn't ask such embarrassing questions, even though I expected nothing less of him.

The cross-dresser got up as well. "Good. That means you can stay away from him. You might think he's a nice guy, but he's still a guard. You can't trust him."

"Says the guy who has 'history' with a captain of the city guard," I flung back.

Izo opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, and I felt a little victorious for putting him in a situation where he didn't immediately knew what to say back.

"That doesn't mean I trust him, though," Izo eventually said.

"You trusted him to not arrest you."

"That's different." Izo sighed. "Fine. Do whatever you want. But I'm not going to save you if you get caught."

* * *

><p>A little while later, the two of us had successfully sneaked into the royal gardens again. Reaching the window Izo had spoken of wasn't a problem either, but I needed to sort a few things out before going inside. "So what do we do if there <em>is<em> a guard near that window?"

Izo shrugged. "If he sees us, we take him out. If he doesn't, we make sure it stays that way." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and looked up at the window, showing he was ready to go in.

"What is the plan once we get inside?"

"I'm going to search for the treasure room," Izo answered, clearly annoyed I had to ask. "You go do something with the princess or something. Try to get her to tell you where the treasure room is, in case I don't find it."

I shook my head. Like she was going to tell me something like that! Well, Izo probably knew that already, so I chose to just ignore him. I didn't actually care _that_ much about what his plans were, anyway. I jumped up, and a second later we landed in the windowsill.

When no guard was to be seen, Izo carefully jumped down again, inside the palace. "Well, okay, see you in an hour." And before I could even say anything, he was gone already.

I shrugged and made my way towards Vivi's room. It didn't take that much effort to avoid walking into guards on my way, because apparently they were all stupid and didn't expect anyone to actually get inside. Well, everyone but Marco, of course. He wasn't stupid. He had, after all, caught me once, when I was trying to sneak past him. I chuckled at the memory. It wasn't such a bad memory after all, even if my situation had seemed worse at the moment itself.

I had reached Vivi's room and knocked at her door. A few seconds later, the door was opened. When she saw me, Vivi put her hand on her hip and tried to look reprimanding at me, but a smile broke through on her face nonetheless. "Just casually coming through the front door now, are we? Should you not be more careful?"

I grinned at her, and she stepped aside to let me in. "Well, to be honest, getting _into_ this palace is the hardest part of reaching you. And even that's not very hard. But once you're inside, it's a piece of cake. You can just walk past the guards when they're looking the other way. Unless it's Marco, of course, but I didn't see him anywhere." Vivi closed the door behind me. "What actually is he? Is he a guard? Or just a servant?" I looked around to check if there really wasn't anyone listening, before I continued. "Is he a eunuch?"

Vivi chuckled. "No, he's something between a servant and a guard, or just both of it at once. One of the people assigned to keep me save and take care of me."

I didn't wait for an invitation and sat down on the sofa. "Just like that bird guy who saved you from me on that rooftop?"

"What, Pell?" Vivi closed the book she'd apparently been reading and sat down next to me. "No, Pell is a lot higher in rank. He is one of the two top guardians of the kingdom. Marco, for example, is not allowed to leave the palace, much like myself, ironically. He seems like a perfect care-taker in that aspect."

"Why? Why can't he leave the palace? I mean, he's got that seastone necklace, right? So shouldn't he be able to just leave?" I wondered out loud. It didn't make sense. I was pretty sure I'd seen palace guards spending their free time in the city, even lower ranked ones. Not that I knew them personally, so I couldn't be a hundred percent sure that they worked inside the palace, but still.

Vivi shook her head. "I don't know, actually. Maybe he has done something, and they don't trust him outside anymore?" She shrugged. "I shall ask him sometime. But enough about Marco, how are you?"

I was a bit disappointed we were already done talking about Marco, as I wanted to know way more about him, but I decided to leave it at this for now. "I'm okay. I actually made up with a friend. We'd gotten into a fight, sort of, but we talked about it and we're fine again."

She looked amused at me. "Really? I thought you didn't have any friends?"

Only then I realized I had just called Izo a friend. That had definitely not been my intention. "Well… he's not actually a friend… more of an acquaintance. Someone I'm more or less friendly with. I don't even trust him completely, so… yeah. Anyway, I thought he'd betrayed me and he said he didn't, so I guess I'm trying to believe him."

"Trying to believe him? My, you really have problems trusting people, don't you?" Vivi asked with raised eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. "Why is everyone saying that like I don't have a perfectly good reason for that?! I mean, everyone I've ever asked said I shouldn't have been born and if they'd know who I was, they'd put everything in it to kill me, so yeah, I don't trust every random stranger I meet."

"Why would they want to kill you?" Vivi looked shocked at me.

"Obviously because –" That was the moment that I realized I hadn't told her about my father. Of course not. The only people I'd ever told were Thatch and Sabo. I guess I'd just gotten so close with Vivi that I'd forgotten I hadn't told her everything. "Never mind. I can't tell you."

"Because you don't trust me either?" She sounded offended.

I looked at her and shrugged. "No offense, but you're still the princess, which makes you practically part of the government."

"You're right. But I had hoped you would know by now that I'm different from most of the government." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking accusingly at me.

"I know you are." I sighed. I should have never let her know I had a secret I couldn't tell her. "But this is something very big, which I really can't tell. I'm sorry. It's nothing personal, even if you weren't the princess, I wouldn't tell you." I still didn't exactly know why the hell I had told Thatch about it either. And only after I'd known him for just a few minutes! It probably had something to do with him being a genie, or maybe he was just very good at getting things like that out of people. Anyway, I now trusted Thatch, but only as much as I trusted Dadan with my secret. I didn't think I would ever trust someone for the full hundred percent. Or at least no one after Sabo.

"Well, fine." Vivi let her arms rest in her lap. "If you don't want to tell me, then don't. Tell me more about what you've done the past days, instead."

I was glad we could talk about something else and told her what she wanted to know. After that, she talked a bit about her own past few days, but soon she stood up and looked as if she'd made up her mind. "I want you to show me the city."

"What do you mean? I can't really walk out with you to give you a tour now, can I?" I got that she wanted to leave this palace, but I couldn't really help with that. And even if I did help her escape, the guards would probably get really pissed and make sure they caught me this time. I usually got away with being a criminal because my offences were relatively small. Beside the stealing, the worst thing I'd done was eating a devil fruit. At least, that was a crime in the eyes of the government. If I helped the princess escape, they would definitely see it as kidnapping and maybe even worse. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd send the highest ranked guards after me. The ones with devil fruit powers.

"Please, Ace, you have to help me. I'm going crazy in here." Vivi looked pleadingly at me. "And the stories you've told only make me want to see the city even more!"

"Yeah, but I can't." I really wished she wouldn't look as if she would lead a miserable life if I didn't help her. "The palace guards aren't aware of me, and that's why I can get past them relatively easily. But they are focused on you, on keeping you here. So it's just not possible."

"We can find a way around that…" Vivi's eyes kept begging me to save her.

On the one hand, I felt like she was complaining too much, because she still lived in a freaking palace, and got everything she wanted inside these walls. But on the other hand, I knew how much it killed her that she couldn't go outside on her own. I sighed. "Let's compromise. If you get a map of the city next time I'm here, I'll show you where things are on it, and tell you a story of something that happened there."

Vivi smiled, but I could see it was forced. "It's a start…" she said.

I nodded. "It's a start." I knew it would probably want to make her go into the city even more, but I just couldn't leave her without anything to look forward to.

I rose. "I should probably go again, though." I looked at the door as if I half expected someone to come through it. "There will probably come someone to check up on you soon. Right?" I hadn't seen Marco yet, after all.

"Yes, probably." Vivi nodded.

"Unless it's Marco, of course, then I've got nothing to worry about." I didn't even know why I tried to mention Marco's name as casually as possible.

This time a real smile appeared on Vivi's face. "I haven't seen him today, so I wouldn't count on it."

I shrugged. It wasn't like I was here for Marco, after all. Still, I felt a little disappointed. I tried to push the feeling away, however, and walked towards the door. "Well, I should get going then." I opened the door, but stopped for a moment for a last question. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know where the treasure room is, do you?"

Vivi raised her eyebrows. "Of course I do."

I put on my most innocent smile. "So… where can I find it?"

She chuckled. "_You_ cannot." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Ace, did you really think I would tell you that?"

"You trust me, right? I was just curious!" I thought I was pretty convincing.

"If you tell me your big secret, I _might_ just tell you where it is," Vivi said teasingly.

I chuckled. It wasn't as if I'd actually expected her to tell me the location of the treasure room. "Well, in that case, see ya!" I waved and left the room without a second thought.

I jogged as quiet as possible through the halls and down the stairs, since I had a feeling I was already a little late for meeting up with Izo. When I reached the hall we first entered, I already saw him hiding behind a giant plant, which appeared to be a good enough hiding spot from the guards inside the palace. He hadn't seen me, however, but just when I wanted to sneak up on him, a guard entered the room.

I quickly pressed my back against the wall in the direction the guard was coming from. I held my breath, and hoped that if I just repeated the phrase 'please don't see me' in my head often enough, he actually wouldn't see me.

The guard walked past me and moved to another room within half a minute. He hadn't seen me, nor Izo. I snorted because of his stupidity and failure as a guard, and made my way over to Izo. Before he could register what was happening, I'd wrapped my arm around his waist and jumped up to the window, smiling, because I had been able to surprise him. "Time to go!"

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><p><em>TBC~!<em>

_Please leave a review, they mean A LOT to me, even if they are the smallest comment ;)_


	10. I know fire

_It's still September... at least where I live XD So here's the next chapter, again beta'd by my awesome friends Aerle and Thérèse. I've already started on the next chapter, so hopefully that one will be a bit quicker._

_I hope you enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: I know fire<strong>

Thatch was reading a book in his usual chair – how he could do that for hours I didn't know – while I was looking out of the window, thinking about what I would tell Vivi next time I'd visit her, and about Marco. I still wondered why I hadn't seen him last time I was at the palace, and I wondered about what Vivi had said, about him not being able to leave that building. It still struck me as weird.

When my nose picked up an unusual, yet all too familiar scent, I looked up. "Oh look," I said to Thatch, while I couldn't help but grin. "Something is on fire, and I didn't even touch it."

Thatch closed his book and came standing next to me. "You seem a little too happy about that. It seems like multiple buildings are on fire," he said as we both saw thick clouds of smoke rising up from the other side of the city.

Thatch narrowed his eyes. "Wait, isn't that around where Izo lives?"

I took a closer look. "Now that you mention it…" Suddenly, a feeling of worry came over me. Which surprised me, because I had been pretty sure I didn't care that much about Izo. I shook my head. "I'm sure he's okay." I may have said that, but this feeling in my gut still didn't go away. If Izo would die, I wouldn't have anyone to force me to go to the palace anymore. That would be… odd. I had gotten used to Izo, I had to admit.

"Are you sure?" Thatch sounded worried too. "Shouldn't we check up on him?"

I shook my head, but still couldn't look away from the smoke that was slowly coming our way. "Don't be ridiculous. He'll show up sooner or later, like he always does. If I haven't seen him two days from now, I'll take a look around there. Besides, if I would go there now, they would blame me for the fire anyway."

We stood there in silence for about a minute, when Thatch crossed his arms in front of his chest. "No, I'm going to check up on him."

I frowned. "No, you won't." I looked my genie in the eyes. "Why are you suddenly so worried about him? You barely know him. He doesn't even know you!"

Thatch looked from the stairs, to me, to the smoking part of the city, but then sighed. "I… just have a bad feeling about this. Besides, he's not a bad person, and I don't want him to die."

I cocked my head, and thinking of what Izo had asked me when I was at his place, I tried to mimic him. "Thatch, do you have a crush on Izo?"

Thatch snorted and looked at me to check if I were serious. Then he laughed. "No." He chuckled and shook his head. "You can care about people _without_ having a crush on them."

Thatch wasn't even blushing the slightest, so I guessed he was telling the truth. Not that blushing meant a person was lying about this, of course. I was well aware that I had been blushing when Izo had asked me this question about Marco. But that was just because it was an embarrassing question. I didn't have a crush on Marco…

Or that was what I thought. I didn't actually know what a crush felt like. I mean, I had never had a feeling I wanted to see a certain girl more than normally, or that I wanted to kiss her or anything. But I _would_ like to see Marco again. And if I were honest with myself, I was looking forward to seeing him, more than I was to seeing Vivi. Even though I liked Vivi too. But… that wasn't a crush, right? I wasn't gay… Or was I?

I barely registered my face becoming hot. I had never thought of the possibility of me being homosexual… To be honest, I hadn't given sexuality or relationships much thought in general. But I wasn't like Izo. Izo was pretty obviously gay. But I wasn't like that. There was really one question that could answer if I had a crush on Marco, and so, if I was attracted to men. _Did I want to kiss Marco?_

I slowly became aware of my almost literally burning face, when I tried to imagine how that would be, kissing with Marco. His slightly red lips on mine… would they be soft, wet, or dry? Would he be a good kisser? Of course he would be a good kisser. I couldn't imagine it any other way. And yes, I had to admit to myself, I didn't mind this daydream at all.

"Hello?"

I barely saw Thatch waving his hand in front of my face, before he got a match out of nowhere and placed it against my cheek. I fully awoke from my daydream when the tip of the match suddenly burst into flames.

"Wow, your face sure is hot," Thatch commented as he blew out the match. "Do _you_ have a crush on Izo?"

"What?! No!" I was quick to say, but I didn't succeed in getting rid of my red face yet. "No, not on Izo…"

"Oh?" Thatch looked amused as he lit another match on my face. "So who _do_ you have a crush on then?"

"Stop that!" Annoyed, I pushed the hand with the match away. "Or I'll light more than just the match in your hand."

"Ooh, am I supposed be scared?" Thatch grinned. "You didn't answer my question yet."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't have a crush on anyone."

"Then why's your face still red?" Thatch continued to tease me.

"Why is your face still ugly?" was my best comeback. "I don't… maybe I like someone, I don't know, leave me alone," I muttered. I really had to figure things out for myself before I would even think of telling someone else.

Thatch kept grinning at me, but then cast another look out of the window, and his face became worried again. "Are you sure we shouldn't check up on him? If it were only to check if the fire won't consume the whole city…"

"Even if the whole city would burn down, this tower wouldn't," I pointed out. "At least if your magic really works that well. A burned down tower can't keep me safe from the government, after all." To be honest, I was just glad we had changed topic.

"Yeah, but a lot of innocent people would die, and you wouldn't want that, knowing you could have stopped the fire, right?" Thatch brought up. "Because you can control the fire, can't you, with your powers?"

I sat down. "I could, but I'm not the fire department of this city." Alubarna hadn't been so kind to me that I now felt like helping out that much. They hated me, so why would I help to stop a fire?

"Yeah, but what if Izo –"

"The fire is already dying down."

Thatch rose an eyebrow at me. "How do you know?"

I shrugged. "I can feel it. Besides, the smoke is getting thinner and less high, meaning the fire isn't spreading anymore and is losing heat." I smirked confidently at him. "I _know_ fire."

Thatch kept looking outside, not seeming to be convinced. "I should hope so."

* * *

><p>It was only a few hours later, when we heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I exchanged a look with Thatch, before I looked at the stairs again, waiting for my guest to show themselves.<p>

Just a few seconds after I'd noticed the footsteps, a head full of black hair and perfect make-up came into view.

I smiled widely, but tried not to show how relieved I was to see my fellow thief. "It's Izo!" I said to Thatch. "He's alive! See, I told you he would…" My voice slowly trailed off as I looked at my genie, who had turned into a dog again, without me noticing it. I realized I must have looked like a fool, talking to a dog like that.

Izo snorted. "Yes, Stefan was probably worried sick about me," he said sarcastically.

I gave Thatch my most vile look for betraying me like that, before I returned to Izo. "You would be surprised."

Only then I noticed Izo was carrying not only his bag, but also a few items of clothing, which he was trying to keep as neat as possible. "Did you go shopping?" I asked, but when I saw his face I quickly continued, "or was that fire really at your place?"

Izo sighed and sat down on the stairs. "The whole building burned down, and a few surrounding buildings as well."

I felt a little bad about the tactless shopping comment, so I offered him to sit on Thatch's chair – which Thatch wouldn't be sitting on now anyway – and Izo gratefully accepted.

"Apparently, one of the girls at my place had a lover who couldn't keep his jealousy in check, so he lit the whole place up," Izo explained when he sat down. "I could just safe a few of my favorite clothes and some make-up, before I had to run."

I nodded slowly, deciding not to comment on his priorities. "So, what are you going to do now?"

By the way Izo looked into my eyes, I could already feel the request coming, so I wasn't too surprised when he said, "I was hoping I could come live here. I mean, in this tower."

I sighed, while looking at Thatch, who laid his dog head down on Izo's foot. If I wanted to keep my genie a secret, it could get problematic if Izo would live here. "Don't you have friends or family or something where you can live?"

"They don't have room for me. Hell, some don't even have a home themselves. But you're living on the fourth floor, which means there are three empty floors beneath you," Izo explained.

I snorted. "I'm surprised you didn't ask to live on the same floor as me."

"Oh, we could also share a bed, if that's what you prefer." Izo winked, which made me feel relieved. He had seemed kind of down, but fortunately, he was still his old, slightly perverted self. He became serious again, but still smiled. "Besides, I see you as a friend too."

I didn't know how to react to that comment. It was one thing that Thatch declared to be my friend – he was a genie, he was different. But now Izo thought of me as a friend too? I couldn't believe him when he said that. I averted my eyes. "Yeah, sure. You barely know me." He probably only said that so I would allow him to live in my tower. Not that I really owned the tower or anything, so he could live here without my permission as well, but I could imagine it being more fun to not be fighting with your neighbor.

"I guess that feeling isn't mutual then," Izo said, and he seemed to be a little offended by it.

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, Stefan is my only friend right now. I'll have to get to know you better before I can fully trust you, let alone call you my friend," I said, but at the same time I realized he didn't need any hostility at the moment, he just needed a place he could stay and regain some breath after the fire. So I forced a smile onto my face. "But that'll probably change when you live below me for a while."

Izo grinned. "So I can stay?" When I nodded, he clapped his hands together. "I knew you liked me more than you pretended." He stood up, petting Stefan on his head as if to apologize for disturbing him, and picked his bag up again. "Well, I'll be making my new home ready then."

He wanted to walk away, but I stopped him just before he could descent the stairs. "One thing, though. Two, actually." I cleared my throat. "You'll take the second floor, so we won't have to hear everything that's going on at the other's floor." I ignored Izo's snort and continued to my most important point. "And _no_ sudden visits. If you want to come up here, you'll announce yourself way before you're here."

Izo raised an eyebrow. "Do you have secrets you want to keep from me?"

I looked at him seriously, trying my best not to show that there were indeed things I wanted to keep secret, as he would never let go before he knew what it was. "I just like my privacy."

* * *

><p>Izo had told me he hadn't found the treasure he'd come for yet, so we decided to pay the palace another visit, a few days after our last one. Since I had no way to contact Vivi about when I'd come again, I just hoped she would be in her room again, and that she had a map of the city there as well. At least she would have had enough time to fetch one.<p>

We entered the palace in the same way as the last time, and again it wasn't too hard to reach Vivi's chamber. However, I didn't encounter Marco – again – which disappointed me, but at the same time made me feel a little relieved. As much as I looked forward to seeing him again, the thought also made me a little nervous. Especially when I thought of how I might have feelings for him that were not platonic – I wasn't ready to fully admit it to myself, though, as I still couldn't really see myself as homosexual.

When I knocked at Vivi's door, she didn't answer. I knocked again, but still nothing. I tried the doorknob, and the door appeared to be open, so I carefully peeked inside the room. When I saw no one, I sneaked inside, and closed the door behind me. Looking at the bed, I decided to test out the soft mattress once more, while waiting for the princess to return. This time I remembered to take my boots off, and laid down on what felt like clouds to me. So soft… I really wouldn't mind having a bed like this.

I opened my eyes when I felt a poke in my ribs. Vivi was standing leaned over me and chuckled. "Feeling at home, are we?"

I blinked a few times, before I lifted myself on my elbow. "When did you come in? Wait, did I fall asleep?"

She chuckled some more. "Unless the snoring was fake, I would say yes."

Awesome. Stupid narcolepsy. Well, at least I was lying on a bed this time. I'd had worse timings. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked while sitting up.

"How should I know? I just came in," Vivi answered. "But I don't think I've been away for more than an hour, so an hour at most."

I hoped it wasn't that long, or Izo would be pissed if I showed up so late_. _I stretched my arms. "So do you have a map?"

"Yes!" Vivi said, a smile appearing on her face. She walked to her desk and got a scroll from the drawer. She came sitting on the bed next to me, spreading the paper out in front of us. "So tell me, where did you grow up?"

I needed a little time to get used to the map and see where everything was, as I usually didn't need a map for this city and therefore rarely looked at one, but then I began to tell my story. I told her about when I was young, about where Dadan's coffee shop was, where I'd met Sabo, and where we used to play, and a lot of other things. She was very curious about everything, and with about every place I described, she voiced her wish to go there.

I just smiled at her when she said that, as I really couldn't do much more. I wanted to show her all those places, but really didn't want to get caught. Vivi might have been able to convince that bird guy, Pell, to let me go once, but if I was caught outside the palace with the princess again, I'd definitely be sued for kidnapping the royal heir, if not worse. And being caught meant bye bye freedom. That was definitely not something I was about to give up.

I just couldn't see the two of us sneaking in and out of the palace like Izo and I did. Vivi wasn't used to sneaking around, like us thieves were, plus the guards were focused on her, and on top of that, her hair stood out too. Almost everyone in this country had dark brown or black hair, like Izo and myself. But not Vivi – and Marco, I couldn't help myself thinking – she had bright blue hair. There was no way she could sneak through the gardens without being noticed. And even if she covered her hair, there were still the other points that worked against us.

Of course there was one option… One option I could use which would guarantee us not being caught. I _could_ use my third wish for this. Thatch could make sure we escaped the palace without being seen by any guard – hell, we could probably just walk out of the front door without being seen like that. But I wasn't sure if I wanted that, if this was important enough to use my last wish for.

Then I remembered something Thatch had said. "Don't you have a genie?" I interrupted her. To be honest, I hadn't even heard what she'd been saying the past minute or so.

She looked at me with a look as if to see if I were serious. "A genie?" She chuckled embarrassedly. "Are they real?"

I shrugged. "I think so." I wasn't ready to tell her about Thatch yet. Not until there was really no option left. "I heard the government had a few in their possession."

Vivi looked down. "If they do exist, and the government did have them, I'm sure they would do anything to keep them from me." She sighed. "Do you really think I would still be stuck here if I had a genie to fulfill my wishes?"

I shrugged again. "Not very probable, I have to admit. But it could have been that you just hadn't thought about it."

"I wish it were so." Vivi looked at me. "You don't secretly have a genie that you've forgotten about either, do you?" she asked half-jokingly.

I tried to put on my poker face, but failed. "Nope. No genie I forgot about." It was true, I hadn't forgotten about Thatch.

I saw her giving me a funny look, probably seeing through my not-so poker face, so I jumped up. "Well, I'll try my best to think of a way to get you out of this palace, okay?" She nodded a little caught off guard, but I didn't give her a chance to ask more questions. "I gotta go now. See you later." Before she could even properly say goodbye, I had already left the room.

I started to walk quickly, as I knew I was probably a bit late to meet up with Izo. I went around the first corner, but then stopped. First I heard footsteps nearing. Then I saw the guard. The guard who was not Marco. And he saw me too. Fuck.

I turned around and started to run. I desperately looked for a place I could hide myself, but the hallway was empty, except for a few candleholders and carpets hanging on the walls. I neared Vivi's room again, but getting back in there would probably put her in trouble. But I had to find a hiding place _now_. Before the guard turned the corner as well, and could see me hiding.

So I did the only thing I could. I hid behind the carpet hanging opposite of Vivi's room. I could hear the guard shout "Hold it right there!" before his footsteps came around the corner, but I was already hidden. I was standing as still as possible, making myself as flat as possible between the wall and the carpet. I heard Vivi's door open – she probably came to see what the commotion was about – and the footsteps of the guard slowed down.

Would he give up because he didn't see me anymore? Or did he slow down because he saw Vivi? I didn't know, as neither of them spoke. I hold my breath, so I wouldn't make any sound.

As I waited for something to happen, I suddenly became very aware of the carpet. I let my eyes wander over the tiny part of it that I could see while being so close to it. The carpet reminded me of a fairy tale Dadan and her family had told me when I was young. What if…

The guard didn't let me finish my thoughts, as he pulled the carpet aside and left me with no place to run.

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><p><em>TBC<em>

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	11. You want me to hit you?

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><p><strong>Chapter 11: You want me to hit you?<strong>

I looked sheepishly at the guard in front of me. So, maybe this hadn't been the best place to hide. That thought was only encouraged by Vivi, who was standing behind the guard, her hand covering her face. She probably thought I was stupid, which, to be honest, I was.

I was ready to put up a fight, but as soon as my fist shot out – I thought it would be better to not use my devil fruit powers yet, just in case he didn't know who I was – the guard clicked one side of a pair of handcuffs around my wrist. He turned me around to grab my other wrist and cuff it, while I felt my power drain away.

_You gotta be kidding me._ They had standard seastone handcuffs?! Or did he know who I was after all, and _knew_ he had to use seastone? Well, either way, I was fucked.

"No, stop!" I heard Vivi say, and the grip on my arm slightly loosened.

I saw my chance to turn around, but I didn't get further. My energy was reduced to just enough to walk normally, run slowly maybe, but I stood no chance against this guard. Oh, how I hated seastone.

"This is a misunderstanding," Vivi continued.

The guard looked skeptically at her. "I don't see how this could be a misunderstanding, Your Highness. This street rat obviously doesn't belong inside the palace."

"Who're you calling a rat, cockroach?!" I yelled at him. Why was that the best I could come up with?

"No, please," Vivi send me a warning look, as if she thought I should just take the insult without complaining. "I invited him here. He's my friend."

"Your Highness, this is not the kind you want to be friends with. I'm sure your father would agree with me." The guard pushed me down the hallway. "It's for your own good. You can't trust scum like this. He might pretend to be your friend, but he's only here to steal from you, if not kidnap you or worse."

"That is not true!" Vivi followed us, and I decided to let her do the talking. It probably didn't matter what I said anyway, even if I felt like punching the man in the face.

"No?" The guard asked. "So he never casually tried to talk about valuable objects, the treasure in this palace, or anything?"

Vivi hesitated for just a moment, probably thinking of when I asked her about the treasure room.

"I thought so," the guard said, while giving me an extra push, urging me to walk faster.

I looked pleadingly at Vivi, and she looked unhappily back. "I'll get you out of this," she said barely audible, but I understood her and nodded. This didn't have to be the end, I had the princess on my side.

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><p>I woke up on a hard floor in a dark cell. My knees hurt, and when I looked at them, I saw they were slightly bleeding. I sighed. It had been quite a while since my narcolepsy had kicked in twice in one day. And apparently, this time it had been while the guard was still dragging my ass towards this cell. Which was great, really, because now I had no freaking idea where I was and how to get out.<p>

I sat up and leaned against the wall. The walls of my cell had the same color as the walls of the palace, so I could still be inside the palace. I hoped I was, because it was probably harder to break out if this was a heavily guarded prison or the station of the city guards.

I stood up and cursed the seastone cuffs that were still keeping my wrists behind my back and draining my energy. Still, I could walk, so I walked towards the door, which had a tiny window with bars in it. I looked outside and saw that I was indeed still inside the palace, though I didn't recognize the exact spot. It was still kind of warm in here, however, so I suspected I wasn't on a lower ground floor, where it was usually a little colder. I also saw a guard standing next to the door, just outside my cell.

I walked back, trying to think of a way to escape. But I soon came to the conclusion that I couldn't do much on my own. The guard near the probably well-locked door, combined with the seastone handcuffs, brought my chances of escaping practically down to zero. But that didn't mean I was ready to give up on ever getting out of here. Izo still walked around somewhere, and if I didn't show up, he would probably come looking for me, right? And then he could break me out; I was sure he could defeat the guard within a second and take his keys from him.

Except Izo had said he wouldn't come to my rescue if I got myself caught. I groaned. So I would just have to trust Vivi. But what could she do? Apparently, the guards barely listened to her. So they probably wouldn't let me out if she just asked nicely. And she wouldn't fight for it either, she was a princess after all. Not that it would matter if she did fight, because she probably still wouldn't be able to take out the guard.

I sat down again. I just couldn't imagine being stuck inside a cell for the rest of my life. If they weren't going to execute me. Well, they wouldn't do that to a thief like me, probably. I might lose a hand or two, but I would still be alive. Unless they discovered who my father had been. But they wouldn't find out about that, right? I shook my head. I'd just have to wait patiently until someone came to free me. If I would still be here the next day, I could start to worry.

Time past and nothing happened. I tried to sit in ten different positions, suddenly having trouble finding a comfortable one on a hard floor like this, even though it wasn't so different from the one in my home. Well, my hands were still stuck behind my back, so that didn't improve my situation either. I also tried ten different positions of standing, and ten positions of lying down. Nothing felt comfortable, and I was bored out of my mind.

I felt like hours had past, though it was difficult to keep track of time in here. I started to doubt anyone would come to save me. It was _me_ we were talking about, after all. No one really cared about me, not enough to endanger themselves to come to my rescue, at least. And to be honest, I felt really dumb for getting caught in the first place. Why had I ever thought a carpet was a good place to hide behind? My feet hadn't even been covered by it. I didn't even see a reason to rescue me myself, so why would others? If I wanted to get out, I probably had to do it on my own, somehow.

Suddenly, my ears picked up a sound from outside the door, and I started to listen carefully. There were two voices speaking softly with each other. Two male voices, though it took a lot of concentration to hear exactly what they were saying.

"… can go. I'll take it from here, yoi."

My heart skipped a beat. Was that…

I heard footsteps walk away, and hoped with all my heart that it was the guard from earlier who was walking away, not Marco. It stayed silent for a while, but I couldn't help but sitting up, trying to look less pathetic than I did before. Because if Marco would look at me, I wanted to look my best.

When the door opened, I even stood up, not wanting to show that I had already partly given up on getting out of here. I waited until the person who opened the door came into my vision, and couldn't help but smile when I saw that it was indeed Marco. "H-hey," I said nervously. Fuck, why was I so nervous all of a sudden? Was it just because I had realized I might have feelings for Marco?

Marco gave me his usual, slightly bored, look. "Hey," he said back, and I cursed my heart for beating so fast. I wouldn't admit it, but I had missed seeing and hearing Marco.

Marco walked into the cell and almost closed the door behind him, just leaving it ajar. He looked me over, crossed his arms before his chest, and leaned against the wall in front of me. "What a mess you've gotten yourself into."

I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, I might have gotten a little too used to guards like you. I mean, guards that don't really want to arrest me or anything." I just couldn't tear my eyes away from his lips. Oh god, no, I definitely wouldn't mind kissing them at all! "So, are you here to free me?"

It was silent for a few seconds, until Marco spoke. "Vivi begged me to." He sighed. "But you gotta understand that I am not in a position where I can just do whatever I want or whatever I think is right, yoi."

"Yeah, you can't even leave the palace, right? Vivi told me." I took a step closer towards Marco, it was probably just a few inches, but it felt like a giant leap. I just wanted to be closer to him, I couldn't help it. "Why is that?"

Marco's face showed that he wasn't very happy with something. Whether that was my step closer to him, the fact that Vivi told me about him, or that I asked him about it, I didn't know, but I didn't dare taking another step, just in case. I didn't want to displease him. He just tolerated me, after all, for Vivi. He didn't like me, I had to remind myself.

"I can leave the palace if I want," Marco answered. "It would just mean I'd lose this job, and I don't want that." Marco pushed his body from the wall and took a step towards me.

I had to keep myself from letting out a sigh from relief, since at least he didn't mind us coming closer towards each other. I dared to move my foot another inch towards him. "I just don't understand. This job keeps you locked up here, you can't do what you feel is right, you don't like keeping Vivi inside the palace… Why do you want to keep this position? It seems to suck, if you ask me." God, what was I doing, questioning his life choices? Did I really want him to dislike me even more?

"It isn't that bad," Marco said, but he couldn't convince me. The way he said it sounded like he wasn't convinced himself either. "Again, I chose this job, so I would like to keep it, yoi. I could tolerate you as long as you kept a low profile. If I let you escape now… I could very well lose the job."

I nodded, because even if I didn't understand his choice for this job, I did respect that choice, and the fact that he wanted to keep it. "So you're gonna leave me here."

Marco looked straight into my eyes, and I couldn't look away, even if it made me really nervous. "You know the door is open since I came in here, right? You could have made a run for it already."

"Yeah, well, I don't know how you can live with that seastone around your neck every day, but I won't get far with these cuffs around my wrists."

Marco nodded, while still looking at me. "This ring around my neck is made of seastone and some other material. It makes us unable to use our devil fruit, but it doesn't drain our energy as much as those handcuffs do. Besides, I've learned to live with it."

He took two more steps towards me and suddenly stood very close to me. I had to remind myself to keep breathing, to act like everything was normal. I looked expectantly at him. I really wanted to kiss him. I knew I couldn't, because he probably didn't like me back, but I wanted to.

The corner of Marco's mouth curled up the slightest. "Turn around."

I blinked. _Wait, what? Turn around? Why?_ I was too nervous to think straight and realize why he wanted me to turn around, but I did what he asked anyway.

I heard a 'click', and the next moment my hands were released. I felt my energy return the moment the handcuffs fell to the floor. I turned back towards Marco again and grinned. "So you _are_ letting me go?"

"If I just let you go, I'll probably be the next to end up in this cell." Marco smiled. "But I just came in here to talk about your true intentions. You suddenly attacked me, I tried to fight back, but you knocked me out. When I woke up, you were gone." He shrugged. "You just hit me in a really nasty way, I guess. I'll probably get scolded, but I'll survive that."

My grin grew. "Thank you. I owe you so much." It cost me all my willpower to not kiss him right there.

Marco averted his eyes, a slight smile on his face. "Just… maybe it's not a very good idea to come back here. To the palace, I mean, yoi."

My smile faded. "But… Vivi. I can't do that to her." That, and I really didn't want to stop seeing Marco. "You know what? I'll wait a week, and I'll sneak into her room via the balcony. And I'll be extra careful, I promise." I looked pleadingly at him. If he decided I shouldn't come anymore, then at least I knew for sure that he didn't like me.

Marco seemed to be hesitating. "But if you get caught again…"

"You can make sure that you're the one on princess-duty, right?" I interrupted him. "You can make sure nobody else sees me."

Marco looked into my eyes again, and I couldn't help but notice how close we still were. Marco sighed. "Fine. In exactly one week, around four o'clock."

My grin returned immediately. "Alright, see you then!" I had to tear myself from that spot in front of Marco, because I had to leave at some point and I felt like this was my cue.

However, Marco put a hand on my shoulder to stop me, almost making my heart stop at the same time, because _he was touching_ _me_. "Ace, make it believable."

"What?" I said most unintelligently. When he pointed at his jaw, I realized what he was talking about. "You want me to hit you?"

"No one's gonna believe me if I don't have a scratch, yoi," Marco explained, shrugging. "Just… don't break anything."

I really didn't want to hit him. He was so kind to me, and in return I had to hit him?! But I understood I had to, if I didn't want him to get fired or even locked up. I bolded my fist and shot him an apologetic look while I hit him on his jaw.

Marco's head snapped back, making him stumble backwards, until his head hit the wall behind him. He groaned and let himself slide down the wall until he sat on the floor.

I looked worriedly at him. "Are you okay?" Maybe I had hit him a little too hard.

"I'm _fine, _yoi." Marco said, while bringing his hand up to his head. "Go. I'll see you in a week."

I nodded and pulled the door further open and stepped outside. The hallway was empty, but I had no idea which way I had to go. Left or right? My gut said right, but I had learned from experience that my gut wasn't always correct when it came to things like direction.

I was about to turn around to ask Marco, when I heard a sound coming from my left. "This way!" I heard a whisper. I looked around, but didn't see anyone. Or did that statue just move? No, I must have imagined it.

"Fucking hell, Ace, hurry up!" the whisper continued, and now I saw a hand calling for me from behind the statue. It was followed by an impatiently looking Izo.

I started to jog towards him, meanwhile keeping an eye on my surroundings, because I really wasn't going to let myself get caught a second time. When I reached Izo, I looked at him. "You were here the whole time? If you knew where I was, why didn't you help me escape?" I whispered a little angrily.

I followed him while he made his way through the palace. "Ace, I'm a man of my word. If I say I'm not going to save you, I'm not going to save you."

"Gee thanks," I muttered. "You're so reliable."

"Besides, I had to check if that guard was really as much on our side as you claimed," Izo continued. By now, we had reached a part of the palace that I thought I recognized.

"He's not on _our_ side, he's on _my_ side," I clarified. I didn't think Marco would approve of Izo and his reasons to be here.

Izo chuckled. "Sure."

Suddenly he stopped and held out his arm to stop me as well. Instinctively, I kept as quiet as possible, and after a second or two, we heard shouting from the direction we had come from. We looked at each other and immediately started to run twice as fast. Within no time we had reached the east wing of the building again, and we tried to get out unnoticed, but from the corner of my eye I saw another guard who had seen us. He started his chase, but I had already lifted Izo from the ground and jumped through the window.

It was dark outside, which made it easier for us to hurry towards the outer wall, and before the guards could follow us outside and see where we were, I had already jumped up and landed on top of the high wall.

Apparently, Izo thought that was a good moment to talk. "Ace, that blond guard…"

"Not now," I interrupted him, and jumped down again.

We kept running for the rest of the way until we reached my tower – _our_ tower, since recently. As soon as I was inside, I stopped to get some air back into my lungs. Izo, however, was already halfway up the stairs. "You know that if you stop in front of an open door, passing guards will still be able to see you, right?"

"Nah, it'll be fine," I answered. "They won't find us here."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not so sure about that." Izo was also breathing heavily. "Come one, let's go to my floor."

I didn't want to attract any attention to the fact that this tower was magically protected against the government, so I did what he said, and followed him up. We sat down on top of the stairs, and finally really regained our breath.

"So, about that guard," Izo began again. "The one who let you out of that cell, was that the guard you have a crush on, the guard you were talking about last time?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's him. I told you I could trust him."

When Izo didn't say anything back, I looked up at him. It was only when I saw the shit-eating grin on his face, that I realized what I had just admitted. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and looked away, my face turning red again. "I fucking hate you."

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><p><em>TBC~<em>

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	12. Brother from another mother

_Thanks again Aerle and Thérèse for still betaing this story and give me feedback!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 12: Brother from another mother<strong>

"Hey, Thatch," I almost whispered. Since Izo had moved into my tower, I hadn't dared to speak very loudly anymore. When I had my genie's attention, I continued. "I have an idea. You cook pretty decent, so I thought, if you make something great, I can take it to Izo and surprise him with 'my' cooking skills."

Thatch looked at me as if I were crazy. "You want me to cook, but you'll take the credit for it?"

"No, don't see it that way!" I just realized that sounded pretty mean. "It's just to fool him. Wouldn't it be fun? To see the look on his face? Because he probably doesn't expect that from me."

"With good reasons," Thatch answered.

"Or you could come with me as Stefan, and I can tell him my dog cooked it. And when he doesn't believe me, you'll turn back and I can properly introduce the two of you," I opted. That wouldn't be as much fun, but if Thatch wasn't going to let me take credit for it… Besides, it would make it a lot easier if Izo knew about Thatch. There was of course still the possibility of Izo trying to steal my genie, but somehow I had started to trust him more, and I didn't think he would do that. It _was _still a risk, though.

"No," Thach said. "I'm not ready to officially meet him yet." Before I could ask why, he continued. "I know how badly people like to steal genies. What if he tries to steal my lamp?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you the one who told me to trust him?"

"Yeah, sure, you can trust him… but we just can't be a hundred percent sure that he won't try to steal me, right?"

"That's the whole point of trust, yes." I narrowed my eyes. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"I... No, I don't…" Thatch stammered.

"Listen, if you know anything about Izo that I should know, you'd better tell me," I said. "Even if that means I won't trust him anymore."

Thatch shook his head. "That's not it. It's nothing, okay, forget it. I just want him to meet me when I'm ready. I mean, he only knows me as a dog… A genie is a whole other thing. It might be better to meet him when I'm free, you know, after you made your third wish."

I kept looking at him with piercing eyes, not buying his excuses. However, he might have a point. Izo at least couldn't steal him anymore, when he was not bound to the lamp anymore. Still, I just felt that he was hiding something from me.

"Okay, I'll cook for you, and you can pretend you made it, okay?" Thatch gave in. "And I will join you, but only as Stefan."

I sighed. "Fine." I would get it out of him, eventually.

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><p>Two hours later, Thatch had prepared two plates with beautiful looking, and even better smelling food on it. Thatch had made sure I still had to steal the food before he prepared it, because he would only get me food out of nowhere again if I used my third wish for it. But that wasn't worth it, in my opinion, no matter how much I loved food.<p>

It was still a little early for dinner, but I had to make sure Izo wouldn't already have made something for himself. So I took the plates when the food was still warm, and slowly descended the stairs, being careful not to drop anything. I was halfway down the second stairs when I heard Izo talk.

"… guess. I found him. I know where he is. My hunch was right."

I reached his floor, and curious about whom he was talking to, I pushed the cloth aside that gave him some privacy.

"Really? That's wonderful news!" A dark haired man with a big mustache and a top hat said. He didn't see me yet, as he was facing Izo. "So he really _was_ in–"

"Ace!" Izo, who _had_ seen me, interrupted him. "What are you doing here?"

I looked from the one man to the other. "I didn't know you had a guest." I studied the man with the top hat for a bit, while he did the same with me.

"I thought we would announce ourselves before we'd barge in," Izo said, looking accusingly at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm sorry, I wanted to surprise you." I held the plates a little higher to emphasize my words. "I just didn't take your guest into account…"

At that moment, Stefan came walking in, letting out a happy bark, and walking a circle around Izo's guest, before returning to my side. I raised my eyebrow at him. What the hell was he doing?

Izo sighed. "Alright, let me introduce you. Vista, this is Ace, he is my partner in crime and lives above me. Ace, this is Vista… my brother."

I looked at the man again. "Brother?" I didn't know Izo still had contact with his family. Besides, I wouldn't have guessed they were family… There wasn't much resemblance between the two.

"From another mother," Vista added.

Izo chuckled. "Yeah, but we had the same father."

"And who's the dog?" Vista asked as he petted my genie.

"His name's Stefan," Izo and I said in union.

Vista raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Izo. "Stefan? That's not a very common name when it comes to dogs."

I frowned. "It's not that weird either." Or was it? Izo had reacted in the same way when he heard the name for the first time.

"No, it's not weird, but…" Vista looked at Izo, who barely visibly shook his head.

Still, I noticed it. I didn't say anything about it, however, I would speak with him about it later, when we were alone again.

Vista shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Well, anyway, I have food." I gave Izo a plate and handed one to Vista as well. "Here, you can have some as well, I'll make myself some more later," I said as my stomach growled loudly.

Vista laughed. "It smells really good, but I should get going again. You sound like you need it more than me." Now that I had a hand free, he held out his hand so I could shake it. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Fire Fist."

I snorted, not all that surprised he knew my nickname. I shook his hand, noticing how firm his hold was. "It was nice meeting you too."

"Izo, we'll continue our talk later. Can you come to my place tomorrow?" Vista asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there," Izo said with a short nod, and Vista took that as his cue to leave.

Both Izo and I sat down and started to eat in silence. I was just waiting for Izo to explain everything that was going on, because I felt like I really missed some information here.

"This is _good_," Izo commented and he smiled, though it came across as a bit sadly. "Really good. Did you make this?" he asked skeptically.

Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten I'd come here to pull a joke on him. "Yeah, of course I made it. Who else would've made it? Stefan?" I couldn't help but glance at the genie and chuckle.

Izo snorted. "You probably stole it from a restaurant."

"I didn't." Well, I wasn't lying.

Izo huffed one more time, after which the silence returned.

After a while, I was done with Izo not explaining himself. "So, who were you two talking about when I arrived?"

"Hm?" Izo swallowed the food in his mouth. "Oh, no one." He waved my question away.

"Really? You both sounded pretty delighted that you'd found this guy." I was so done with people hiding things from me. "Doesn't sound like no one to me."

"Really, it's no one you know," Izo kept saying. But he didn't look at me when he spoke. "Vista just lost track of someone a few days ago and asked me to help search for him, that's all."

Even though he sounded very convincing, I still didn't quite believe him. I still felt like he was keeping something from me. "And what was that thing with the name Stefan? You both had to comment on that name…" I tried fishing some more.

Izo raised an eyebrow. "It's just a weird name for a dog."

"That might be, but then why did you give a sign to your brother as if he couldn't tell something?"

"Jeez, you're a little paranoid, aren't you?" Izo shook his head.

"Yeah, you know why?" I jumped up, getting a little fed up with him. "Because you're hiding things from me. Don't try to deny it, because I know you do! I just wish everyone would–" I stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Thatch, who was looking way too innocently at me with his puppy eyes. But I wasn't going to fall for his innocence a second time. I was relieved I noticed my mistake before I finished the sentence. "I just _hoped_ everyone would stop hiding things from me. I'm sick of your secrets! Am I not trustworthy enough? I let you live in my home, for God's sake, the least you can do is trust me!"

Of course I could use my third wish to make both Izo and Thatch confess their secrets to me, but that would be beside the point. They should just trust me enough to tell them out of free will. Besides, I wasn't going to give Thatch the pleasure of using my third wish so easily. This wasn't important enough.

Izo looked unimpressed at me. "Are you done?" He shook his head. "You're right, I might be a little too afraid to let people know a lot about me. Stefan isn't a weird name, but it's just a funny coincident. Vista and I used to know a dog named Stefan, that's why we thought it was remarkable." He sighed and looked at me. "I guess it won't do any harm, letting you know that."

The look on his face was honest this time, and I was speechless for a moment. "_That_ was what you didn't want to tell me?" Somehow, all my anger faded away. Had that really been the reason to yell at him?

Izo shrugged. "I now realized it was kinda silly, indeed." He chuckled. "Now, sit down and finish your food."

I did what he said, and we continued eating in silence. I noticed Izo had already gotten quite some stuff in his new home. Apparently, a mattress was easy to get for him, because there was already one lying against the wall, with a few pillows on top of it. How he was able to obtain one without getting noticed was beyond me. I wouldn't be able to sneak around through town with such a large object. Especially not when I stole it and people would be looking for me.

When Izo had finished his food, he stretched out to lie on his stomach, leaning on his elbows and his head resting in his hands. A mysterious smile on his face, he looked at me. "So what's your plan?"

"Plan?" I repeated while licking my fingers clean. Thatch could cook _really _well.

"Yeah, for when you're going back to the palace," Izo explained.

I shrugged. "I've agreed to meet Vivi in four days, at four o'clock. So that's when we can go again. I said I would come in via her balcony though, to avoid as many guards as possible. I'm not sure what you–"

"No, no, I mean your plan to seduce Marco," Izo interrupted me.

I felt my cheeks heat up. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Stefan lift his head and look interested from me to Izo and back again, but I didn't dare to meet his eyes. Izo had gotten it out of me that I had a crush on Marco, so I could talk about it to Izo, but Thatch didn't know yet. At least, he hadn't known about it _until now_. "How did you know his name?" I asked Izo.

He snorted. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because of those thousand times you talked about him in the past few days?"

My face became even hotter. "I didn't talk about him _that_ much…"

"Oh honey, do you ever even talk about something else?" He smirked. "Do you ever even _think_ about anything or anyone else?"

Well, I had to admit Marco _had_ occupied most of my daydreams… but was I going to tell Izo that? No way, he was teasing me enough already.

"I didn't think so," Izo concluded triumphantly, after I hadn't given him an answer. "So how are you going to do it? You need a plan, or nothing will happen."

"Izo! Could you stop?!" I still desperately tried to avoid my genie's eyes, not ready to see his judging look as well. "In your eyes, every man might be gay, but I'm not even a hundred percent sure _I_ am."

Izo chuckled. "Not _every_ man is gay… unfortunately, but there is a really easy way to find out if you are." He winked at me, before continuing. "Do you want to have sex with Marco?"

"What?!" I was sure my head was as red as a tomato by now. "I-I, what? No, I mean–"

A giggle escaped Izo's throat. "I'm sorry, I had forgotten how innocent you were. Let's start over. Do you want to _kiss_ Marco?"

I calmed down a little. I wasn't happy about getting called innocent, but I hadn't really been thinking about sex with Marco either. The question had just caught me off guard.

But this new question I could answer. That didn't mean I wanted to, though. I stared at the floor. "I don't know… maybe… I think so…"

"Then there we have our answer." He smiled. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, to like men."

"I don't like men… I just like Marco." I shrugged. I still wasn't convinced.

"Who is a man." Izo sat back up again. "But does it matter what label you put on yourself?" He smiled. "Remember when we first met? I tried to tell you back then as well, you shouldn't look at the world as if it's all black and white. Male or female, straight or gay, good or bad. There are in-betweens. And you don't always have to fit a certain label. Just be who you want to be, not who others expect you to be."

I looked at him, surprised by his wise words, and unable to speak for a moment. Then I chuckled nervously. "I didn't know you could be so deep."

"Oh, I can go very deep," he said in a mysterious tone, and he wiggled his eyebrows to get the meaning of his words across.

I closed my eyes. "And we're back at the usual level. I was almost beginning to worry about you."

"No, but seriously, what are you gonna do to get Marco?"

"Nothing!" Geez, why did Izo keep pressuring so much? "I'll just see what happens. I don't even know if I'll see him next time. And I don't even know if he likes men, let alone if he likes me, so it's probably not gonna work out anyway."

"Honey, you're exactly his type," Izo assured me. "I could see it from his face. I can see things like that."

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't think I'm gonna trust your supernatural instinct on that."

Izo pursed his lips. "Alright, but you should at least make an attempt at getting to see him. You won't get anywhere if you don't even try."

"Of course I'll try to see him," I said a little too fast. I was more looking forward to seeing Marco than to seeing Vivi, after all. Not that I didn't want to see Vivi, I just wanted to see Marco more. Even if he didn't like me back, I still wanted to see him.

"Good, I trust it you can go on your own then," Izo said, smiling again.

I frowned. "What do you mean? You're not coming with me?"

"I just think we should be a little more careful this time. They're probably more on guard since you got caught and escaped," Izo explained. "It seems a better idea to me if I lay low for a bit. But _you_ can't disappoint Marco."

"Vivi, you mean. Marco probably doesn't care much, except for that Vivi would not be happy if I wouldn't show up."

Izo chuckled shortly. "Whatever, as long as you go."

* * *

><p>When I left a little while later, I was immediately followed by Thatch, who changed from dog into human form again, as soon as we'd reached my floor.<p>

"So, Marco? Who is he? Why didn't you tell me about him? Is he in the palace?" Thatch shot questions at me as soon as he could speak freely again.

I sighed. I had seen this coming, but to be honest, I was already quite exhausted from my talk with Izo, which was mostly about that topic as well. I liked to think about Marco _a lot_, but I didn't really feel like explaining and defending myself every time. Still, I guessed I owed Thatch an explanation. "Yeah, I like him, okay? He's a servant in the palace, who I met a few times. He's the guy that interrupted my first visit at the palace, when I had to hide inside a closet."

"Which you had apparently been doing all your life already," Thatch joked. "Hiding inside the closet."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up. I can't come out if I don't know I'm in it in the first place, can I?"

Thatch chuckled. "So this Marco… what does he look like? Describe him to me."

I couldn't help but smile when I thought about him. I really didn't want to come across as hopelessly in love, but it was hard to hide it. "Well, he's kinda handsome, he has beautiful blue eyes, and he's blond. He's got a bit of a weird, pineapple-like hairstyle though."

Thatch snorted and looked as if he was going to burst out laughing, but straightened his face after all, and urged me to continue.

"Yeah, it's pretty dumb." I chuckled. "Still, it doesn't look bad on him. What can I say more about him? He wears a uniform, yeah, I don't think I've seen him with anything else on. Wouldn't mind seeing him without uniform, though."

Thatch snorted again. "Ace! You're too young to have these kind of thoughts."

"I meant with something else than a uniform!" I clarified. Though, to be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing him without any kind of shirt either. "And I'm twenty, I'm not too young," I said, before I added to my story, "and he's got a seastone ring around his neck."

At that moment, Thatch seemed to realize something. "Is he the one you tried to guess the devil fruit from?"

I thought back to when I had asked my genie to come up with devil fruits that could stand fire. We had never really discussed it afterwards. I had been avoiding the subject when I came back that day, because I felt weird talking about Marco back then. I guessed the situation was different now. "Yeah, but we were wrong. He wasn't a dragon."

"A dragon?" Thatch repeated with a snort.

"Yeah, the Mythical Zoan fruit you suggested?"

"Well, I never said dragon, but… yeah, it could have been. What about the Atsu Atsu no Mi?" Thatch asked, while looking out of the window.

"Wasn't it either." I answered. I still wanted to know about his devil fruit though.

"Well, you'll have to come up with another strategy to get him to confess then," he said, looking at me from the corners of his eyes again, and smiling teasingly.

_Oh no, not he too._ "You aren't going to be like Izo too, are you, when it comes to Marco?"

Thatch chuckled. "Don't worry. No one is as good at meddling into other people's love lives as that guy is."

* * *

><p><em>TBC<em>

_Since this is probably the last chapter I post in this year, I want to take this opportunity to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! _

_Also, it would be a really great (Christmas) present to read your reactions on this chapter ^^_


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